railway budget
Kumaon expects upgrade of railway facilities
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, March 12
Just as Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi completes his budgetary proposals that he is supposed to present before Parliament on March 14, the Kumaon region is looking forward to a financial year that would be marked with major expansion of railway facilities and infrastructure across the region.

To begin with, the region is expecting that a Shatabdi link would eventually be provided between Kathgodam and New Delhi in this rail budget.

The demand for the link has been long pending and the minister too during his recent visit to the region had promised that he would deliver on this issue. A Shatabdi link between Kumaon and New Delhi would give a boost to the tourism in the region. An air conditioned train between the Anand Vihar terminal and Kathgodam that runs three days in a week and had been started a year ago has proved to be a success.

The Kumaon region is also looking forward to the flagging off of the train between Ramnagar and Hardiwar that had been announced by Trivedi’s predecessor Mamata Banerjee in her last budgetary speech.

The train has not been started as yet on the account of the non-arrival of coaches, but it is now expected to be flagged off any day.

The people of the region see a major relief for them when the gauge conversion task being executed by the Railways between Lal Kuan and Bareilley gets completed in a few months. The conversion would result in re-plying of trains like Nainital Express between Lal Kuan and Lucknow along with the possibility of new long-distance trains to the region.

The Railway authorities in the past have spelt that the institution wants to develop the Lal Kuan junction as the gateway to Kumaon.

With there being no space available in Haldwani and Kathgodam where the stations are sandwiched between the Gaula river bed on one side and the Nainital highway on the other, there is no scope for expansion at these two stations. Hence, the Railways have chosen Lal Kuan as the junction where a major expansion of services and facilities like a multipurpose complex are on the cards.

With the institution having successfully carried out major anti-encroachment operations in Lal Kuan and having got its land vacated, all that is needed now is a nod to start the execution of works.

Kumaon has also been seeking a direct connectivity with Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and other metros so that tourists have an option of coming to the region directly. The Railways have stated that this can only become a possibility once the infrastructure is further beefed up in the plains. The people are looking forward to some development on this front.

Another persistent demand coming from the people is to make the weekly Garib Rath to Jammu a daily train. People say there is enough scope for the train to be a success as a large number of people travel to the Punjab and Jammu regions regularly.

A major concern which the residents of Kumaon want the Railways Minister to address is the security of the people travelling by the trains to the region. The growing instances of people being duped of their valuables after being intoxicated needs to be addressed on priority basis.

Then there is the ongoing demand from the people of the Bageshwar and Tanakpur areas who have been demanding that railway connectivity be provided to them so that the hardships they face in order to reach their destinations in the hilly terrain be reduced considerably. 

Tanakpur to Bageshwar railway line demanded
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, March 12
The Bageshwar-Tanakpur Rail Marg Nirman Sangharsh Samiti has threatened that if construction of a rail line between Tanakpur to Bageshwar was not proposed in the Rail Budget this year, the samiti will launch an agitation in Bageshwar and Tanakpur.

Members of the samiti today held a demonstration before the District Magistrate, Bageshwar, and urged the Railway Minister to include the construction of this rail line in this year’s Rail Budget. The agitators said this railway line, which had been proposed by the British, should be included in special category rail projects.

“The proposed rail line, for which the ministry has conducted a survey twice, need to be constructed as the backward areas of Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh on the Indo-China and Indo-Nepal border also need development,” said Gusain Singh Dafauti, president of the samiti.

“As the Rail Budget is going to be presented in Parliament soon, we have gathered here to mount pressure on the ministry,” said Dafauti.

Samiti members have alleged that despite their agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi last year demanding this railway line, the ministry has not taken attention towards the construction this railway line.

“The ministry has sanctioned several railway lines in the Northeast and Kashmir but has not taken notice of the plights of state people. If railway line could be linked with these towns, they would progress more,” said Dafauti.

Sonia selects least controversial Vijay Bahuguna for the top post
S.M.A.Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
Vijay Bahuguna, the incumbent Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, has been able trounce his political rivals within the Congress Party, particularly Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat, one of 
the front-runners for the 
top post.

After Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Uttarakhand Assembly elections by a slender margin of one seat, there has been as intense struggle amongst the senior Congress leaders to grab the post of Chief Minister in the state. Despite a resolution by the Congress Legislative Party to authorise Congress president Sonia Gandhi to nominate the Chief Minister, the struggle continued, forcing Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to come to Dehradun as party observer to elicit the views of the Congress legislators as well as the Independent legislators and the lone Uttarkhand Kranti Dal (P) legislator on the issue.

The scene shifted to the national Capital but the party failed to arrive at a consensus candidate amongst warring satraps who refused to relent. There was a view that the Congress should avoid appointing a party MP as Chief Minister as it would trigger two byelections, one for the Lok Sabha seat and the other for the Chief Minister to enter the state Assembly.

According to party sources, despite several rounds of negotiations today, there was no end to the crisis as leaders refused to arrive at a consensus candidate. It was reported that annoyed by the turn of events, party president Sonia Gandhi finally invited Harish Rawat, Satpal Maharaj, Vijaya Bahuguna and state party chief Yashpal Arya, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Birender Singh, general secretary, in-charge of Uttarakhand, to her residence and did some tough talk. She reportedly asked that there have been so many chief ministerial candidates in Uttarakhand Congress but why did the party not fare well and get majority on it’s own.

Vijay Bahuguna, who was the least controversial and without any recognised group of his own, was selected by the party president Sonia Gandhi. Birender Singh also rooted for Vijay Bahuguna.

But it would be an uphill task for Vijay Bahuguna to manage the affairs of the state with the help of faction-ridden party. His first acid test would be to enter the state Assembly and also help the party win the Tehri Lok Sabha seat to be vacated by him in the near future.

Procession marks Tibetans’ uprising day
Ajay Ramola

Women demonstrate in Mussoorie

Mussoorie, March 12
Members of the Mussoorie Tibetan Women’s Association held a peaceful rally to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of National Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day in here today.

The Tibetan women community offered prayers and paid obeisance to their spiritual head Dalai Lama. Following that, a procession carrying placards and Tibetan flags was taken out and the members raised slogans against the Chinese regime and its alleged violation of human rights, especially against women.

The procession went through the Mall Road, Jhoola Ghar, Kulri Bazar, and Picture Palace. A small meeting at the Gandhi Chowk was held later. Leader of the Tibetan Women Association, Mussoorie, Kalsang Dolma also read out the message of the Prime Minister-in-exile, Dr Lobsang Sangay, of Tibetan government-in-exile (Kashag). The Prime Minister, paying

homage to their spiritual head Dalai Lama stated that it was due to his leadership, vision and benevolence that the movement had been going on for the past 53 years and the Tibetan spirit and identity inside Tibet had remained unbroken.

The Tibetan leaders, raising objection on the Chinese government’s claim that Tibetans enjoyed freedom, equality and democratic rights said on no Tibetan had ever held the party secretary post of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region.The Chinese hold majority of the decision-making positions in all branches of the government and constitute more than 50 per cent of the public sector workforce thus revealing the true face of the oppressive regime.

In addition to this, the Tibetan plateau is the "world's third pole" as it contains the largest ice fields outside the two poles. Tibetan glaciers, the source of 10 major rivers, affect the lives of more than 1.5 billion people. Mineral resources worth billions of dollars are being exploited annually to fuel China's economy.

The Tibetan leaders also appealed to the international community to send a fact-finding delegation to Tibet to remove the veil of censorship and disinformation campaign.

The Tibetan government is observing 2012 as a Tibet Lobby Year where the Tibetan community members will try to educate the elected representatives at the state and national levels to hold a debate about Tibet and get legislation passed in support of Tibet and the Tibetan people so that the long-cherished goal of freedom and reuniting with their brethrens in Tibet is realised soon.

Dehradun: Tibetan women under the aegis of the Regional Tibet Women’s Association took out a peaceful rally on Monday to commemorate the National Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day in Tibet.

Tenzin Dolma, member of the Tibetan Women’s Association, said that the Tibetan women would continue their struggle. “We have been demanding the release of environmentalist Karma Samdrup, who has been imprisoned for the past 15 years. There are several activists who have been put behind bars on fake charges,” she said.

She said the association members had also been raising their voice against the illegal detention of wandering Tibetan women and monks. “Around 10 lakh wandering women have either been illegally detained or have disappeared,” she said. 

Debate on Moorcroft’s travels across U’khand
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, March 12
Sunday evening saw experts from the field of history debating the enigmatic personality of William Moorcroft, a multi-faceted British citizen, who had travelled across the areas presently known as Uttarakhand on his way to Central Asia and perhaps also Tibet some 200 years back. Participating in the discussion held in the Lake City were none other than Moorcroft’s biographer Garry Alder, who is known for his book “Beyond Bokhara” and Daniel E. Jantzen, who came up with the path-breaking work”The Moorcroft Mystery.”

Moorcroft’s death remains a mystery just as his life was full of adventure as he proved to be an expert in several disciplines at one point of time. Ironically, nothing has been done on him in terms of academic research by the Indians despite the fact that he spent a major part of his life in the subcontinent. The discussion was organised by eminent historian from Kumaon region Shekhar Pathak on behalf of the organisation Pahad.

The discussion began with Alder going on to describe the distinguished personality of Moorcroft. He described Moorcroft as an “Early Jim Corbett” in Indian context and said: “His life is a play with different acts.”

He began by relating that Moorcroft was a medical surgeon in the 18th century who had decided to change course and become a veterinary surgeon instead. He was the first qualified veterinary surgeon in England.

The East India Company had sought his services as it required quality horses for its constant battles with enemies and Moorcroft was appointed as a Superintendent of Bengal Stud. Alder related that he had gone on to start a breeding farm near Patna but had only had partial success 
in his endeavour though his success was rated quite high by the experts of 
those times.

In was in 1812 that he had undertaken an expedition to Mansarovar travelling via what is now known as Uttarkhand and other parts of the Himalayan region. He could not make it to Tibet and was in fact imprisoned by the Gurkhas on his way back.

His release had come with he intervention of the Company.

Not satiated, he once again decided to embark on another journey while looking for quality horses in the mountain regions in 1818. Alder said that this time he travelled right up to Bokhara with a caravan. On his way back, he got separated from the caravan in North Afghanistan and is learnt to have died of fever.

However, Jantzen in his address pointed out to the theory that Moorcroft had faked his death and had travelled to Tibet in the guise of a Kashmiri trader. This aspect of his presence in the area around Lhasa had later been written about by two French missionaries who had gone to the region.

According to this account, he was killed in 1835 by bandits near Mansarovar. Jantzen has been working on this theory and has been trying to collect material on Moorcroft from Taipei and 
Beijing.

Alder had related that Moorcroft was seen as a good human being who used to help the locals wherever he went conducting surgeries on both humans and animals.

“He had planned his retirement in the hills of India where he had wanted to help the locals. I was surprised when an old man in a remote corner of Afghanistan had narrated tales of Moorcroft that he had heard from his family,” he disclosed.

Former Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand and a history scholar RS Tolia, too, came up with his observations on the issue of Moorcroft’s death.

He was of the opinion that Moorcroft had probably died of fever only. However, Jantzen came up with logical points to contend that the theory of his having gone to Tibet carries more ground. 

Tusker fear grips Rishikesh residents
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
Fear grips residents of Rishikesh ever since a beggar was killed by an elephant on Friday and just two days after, a woman was also trampled to death by another elephant on Sunday.

Kamla Devi (42), resident of Bapugram Suman Vihar, had gone to collect fodder from the Bibiwala jungle at Rishikesh. The women who went with her told villagers when they reached the jungle, they ran after spotting an elephant running for their lives. Unfortunately, the elephant caught Kamla and coiled her in his trunk and thrashed her on the ground.

The police and a team of forest officer went inside the jungle to search for the missing woman but were chased away by two elephants. The team equipped with arms went again and found the mutilated body of Kamla Devi a kilometre away. The police took the remains of the body under its custody. It was just two days ago a beggar was found dead on the Shyampur-Rishikesh bypass road. He had been battered so hard that his hand was separated from the body. The witnesses said the elephant must have come to eat the packets of noodles with expiry dates which were thrown by a shopkeeper on the spot.

It was guessed that the beggar who used to roam around the area came in contact with the elephant and was killed by it. The shopkeepers of the area collected Rs 1,700 to cremate the body. Forest officials are once again confounded by the increasing incidents of killing by elephants.

Erring officials to be penalised
Tribune News Service

Nainital, March 12
The Udham Singh Nagar administration has decided to take those officials to task who did not contribute towards making the 
recent pulse polio campaign a success.

District Magistrate PS Jangpangi has ordered the Chief Medical Officer, Dr YC Sharma, to seek an explanation from those officials who did not come up with the expected support during the campaign.

He has made it clear that action would be taken against the erring officials for not contributing towards making this health programme a success.

Jangpangi has ordered that a meeting be called of officials from the Education, Child Welfare, Youth Welfare and Power Departments to chalk out a plan for the next campaign scheduled for March 18.

He expressed his annoyance over not getting proper support of the Education and Child Welfare Departments in the last campaign. He pointed out that these were the departments whose personnel were well-versed with the community and hence their active participation was a must.

BSP to join Congress govt in Uttarakhand
Decision comes after Sonia’s request to Mayawati
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
The decision of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to extend support to the Congress and join the new government in Uttarakhand has been forced by the ground realities in the state.

BSP supremo Mayawati has decided to extend the support of three legislators of her party to the Congress, following a request by Congress president Sonia Gandhi yesterday.

Mayawati was forced by the fact that a split or even a merger of the three-member BSP legislative party would be imminent. The Congress was also playing cautiously and did not want to annoy Mayawati by splitting the BSP in Uttarakhand in the light of the political realities, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress, which has won 32 Assembly seats in the Assembly elections, has taken support of the three Independents and the lone legislator of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) to get majority in the 70-member House. But despite attempts made by both the Congress and the BJP, the BSP had not decided on choosing a political partner in the state.

However, senior Congress leaders, including Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat, who represents the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat, was in a constant touch with all three BSP legislators who also belong to Haridwar district.

One of the BSP legislators, Sarwat Karim Ansari, who represents the Mangalore Assembly segment, was earlier the general secretary of the state Congress before he joined the BSP. All three BSP legislators were willing to form their own group to be a part of the Congress-led government. But the Congress high command was reluctant to finish off the BSP in Uttarakhand due to the support required from the party in the coming Rajya Sabha elections and also Presidential elections. So the Congress decided to talk to BSP Chief Mayawati.

Mayawati has also got the report from its state unit that ultimately the three BSP legislators would form their own group and decided to extend support. A meeting of the three BSP legislators held at Haridwar also decided to extend support to the Congress government. Harish Rawat flew in a special helicopter to the Jolly Grant airport yesterday and talked to the BSP legislators before Sonia Gandhi talked to Mayawati in the evening to get her consent.

Earlier, state Congress president Yashpal Arya also met BSP state in charge Meghraj Zarware in Haridwar. “The BSP has decided to be a part of the Congress government,” said Yashpal Arya.

According to Congress sources, the BSP could get a Cabinet and minister of the state post in the Congress government. The extension of support by the BSP has given a relief to the Congress leadership as the future government was dependent on the support of the three Independents and the lone UKD (P) legislator for a majority in the House. “We have decided to extend unconditional support to the Congress government on the directions of Mayawati,” said Surajmal, president of the state unit of the BSP.

3 MLAs submit support letter to Governor

The three BSP MLAs elected in the Assembly elections recently handed over their letter of support to the Congress to Governor Margaret Alva at Raj Bhavan here today.

Sarwat Karim Ansari of Manglore, Haridas of Jhabrera and Surendra Rakesh of Bhagwanpur, led by president of the state unit of the party Suraj Mal and state in charge Meghraj Zarware, met the Governor and said they had decided to extend their support to the Congress to form the government in the interest of the state.

Former MLAs, Narayan Pal and Haji Tasleem, were also present. A large number of BSP workers also accompanied them.  

Pilgrims visiting Purnagiri fair inconvenienced
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, March 12
Pilgrims had to face inconvenience due to alleged mismanagement of the Purnagiri fair during initial days. Chairperson of the Champawat Zila Panchayat Prema Pandey and chairman of the Uttarakhand Wool Development Board Shiv Raj Kathayat inaugurated the fair on March 10. The pilgrims were inconvenienced as security forces sought by the state government for the fair could not reach Purnagiri. “Seventy-five per cent of our security personnel have now reached the district and is being deployed at the fair. Now, the pilgrims will not face inconvenience anymore as security forces are available in sufficient strength,” said Santhial Pandian, SP, Champawat.

The SP said the late arrival of security personnel deputed on Assembly election duty in Goa delayed their deployment for the fair. “Now, more than 75 per cent of the security forces demanded from other states and the local PAC have reached the district,” he said.

Pandian added that 10 sub-inspectors, 20 head constables and 140 constables from other states and eight sub-inspectors and 25 constables of the local police, besides 10 constables of the Traffic Police were being deployed on fair duty. The fair would continue for about 60 days.

“The police and the PAC personnel will be deployed at the main temple of Goddess Purnagiri at Thuligar, Bhairav Mandir and Kali Mandir in the Boom range area, near the entrance to the main mela area,” said the SP.

More than 30,000 pilgrims have already visited the temple of Goddess Purnagiri situated on hilltop. “Besides the Purnagiri temple, the pilgrims are also paying obeisance at the Siddhanath temple in Nepal adjoining Purnagiri hills, as the darshan of Baba Siddhanath is considered sacred like Goddess Purnagiri,” said Harshbardhan Singh Rawat, chairman of the Nagar Palika Parishad, Tanakpur, a town adjoining the Purnagiri temple.

As more than 10,000 pilgrims are visiting the fair every day and more than 2,000 are taking bath in the Sharda river, the shortage of security personnel is causing problems to the administration. “The Nagar Palika Parishad has not constructed makeshift change rooms for women pilgrims nor sufficient police personnel have been deputed on fair duty. Only one constable of the Uttarakhand Police has been deputed at Sharda Ghat for a large number of pilgrims taking dip in the river,” said a pilgrim from Barreilly district in Uttar Pradesh.

People on pilgrimage to the Siddhanath temple in Nepal are also facing inconvenience in the absence of streetlights, toilets and a proper road. “More than 25,000 pilgrims have visited the temple in Nepal after Holi, but the Zila Parishad had not made the arrangements it used to be make every year. The Sharda head works in Uttar Pradesh has constructed some toilets, but these are meagre compared to the number of pilgrims visting the Siddhanath temple,” said CS Kanyal, in-charge of the Sharda bridge.

Rising star team triumph
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
Helped by 93 not out by Ankit, Rising Star Cricket Club defeated New Star Cricket Club by seven wickets in a match in the 60th Dehradun Cricket League Tournament here today.

Batting first after winning the toss, New Star Cricket Club made 177 runs all out in 30 overs. Raju was the highest scorer with 51 runs while Sohail scored 35 runs. Vishal and Nitin took three wickets each. In reply, Rising Star Club scored 181 for the loss of three wickets to win the match by seven wicket. Opener Ankit scored 93 not out in 81 balls with the help of two sixes and 14 fours.