Organic zones, food testing labs to be set up: Bahuguna
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 21
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has announced that organic zones and food testing laboratories would be established for food security in the state.

He said work would also be taken up in the direction of power generation through waste vegetable and fruits.

Bahuguna, in the meeting with representatives of the National Institute of Agriculture Management held here today, said a lot of potential was available in the agriculture and horticulture sectors in the state. The representatives of the NIAM through a presentation explained how the agricultural and horticultural potentials present in the state could be utilised. The Chief Minister said the state government had set up Agriculture Marketing Board to encourage agriculture and horticulture. He said the state government was also planning to set up a terminal market in Rudrapur.

He directed the Principal Secretary, Agriculture, to prepare an action plan for the setting up of organic zones. He said in the light of Centre’s plan to introduce Food Security Bill in Parliament, the state government was planning to set up food testing laboratories in the state.

Bahuguna instructed the officials concerned to prepare plans to establish food grains godowns at the nyaya panchayat level to meet shortages and for which financial assistance could be obtained from the NABARD also. He asked the officials to think about the projects to generate power through waste vegetables and fruits by taking advice from experts.

The Chief Minister rued that though Malta was produced in large number in the state, owing to the lack of marketing facilities, the farmers were not able to avail maximum benefits. He directed the officials to look for the possibilities of setting up plants for sub-produces of Malta and prepare action plan for the same.

Dr JS Yadav from the NIAM, through his presentation, suggested the means to generate employment opportunities in agriculture and horticulture sectors and how revenue could be generated for the state. The Chief Minister appreciated the suggestions made by Dr Yadav.

Also present on the occasion were Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DK Kotia, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Om Prakash, Additional Secretary, Agriculture, Nidhi Pandey and other senior officials.

DMC opposition team meets Panwar on civic issues
Tribune News Service

Dehrdun, June 21
A delegation led by leader of opposition of Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) Ashok Verma met Secretary, Urban Development, Uma Kant Panwar, today, with regard to their various demands pertaining to DMC and other civic issues of the city. Panwar gave an assurance to seriously consider their demands.

The delegation demanded expansion of the border areas of DMC, assimilating those localities which had been growing fast of late. Verma said the residents of these localities must also get the benefits of various schemes such as JNNURM, solid waste management, drinking water scheme of ADB, traffic management, etc taking place in the city at present.

He also drew attention towards the burning issue of house tax, saying the new house tax policy must be considered in perspective of the fact that the DMC was not like the big MCs of Uttar Pardesh. He also advocated a significant rebate for statehood agitators, freedom fighters and families of Kargil War from house tax.

Verma proposed ownership rights for slum colonies dwellers who had been residing in such pockets for more than 25 years. In absence of the ownership rights, they had been facing umpteen problems, he said. He suggested construction of flyovers within the DMC area in the city to minimise the impact of traffic congestion.

Verma opposed proposal of building a medical college in the vicinity of DMC, saying this part of the area was already crowded. He said the college building must be built in the outskirts of the city.

He demanded the constitution of a coordination committee involving representation from the DMC, PWD, MDDA and Irrigation Department to work in tandem with each other to solve rain-related problems during monsoon season. He drew attention towards badly dug up or uncarpeted roads in the city. The roads must be set in order before the monsoons, he demanded.

The contractual and daily wage employees, who had been serving the DMC for several years must be regularised, he added. The others in the delegation included Jagdish Dhiman, Dr Vijender Pal Singh, Vinay Kohli and Anand Tyagi.

Doon Hospital demands Rs 11 crore, gets Rs 2 crore
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 21
Notwithstanding the mounting expenses of Doon Hospital, the state government has sanctioned only Rs 2 crore out of a total of Rs 11 crore budgetary amount demanded by the hospital authorities for this financial year.

The miniscule amount, the hospital authorities say, would prove to be chicken feed for the hospital and would barely help them meet the essential expenses, including procurement of medicines and expenditure towards daily diet of patients.

“The frugal allocation by the state government has become a norm. It is difficult to improve the public health care with limited budget. We have been cutting corners for the last three years but it affects the services,” said Dr BC Pathak, Principal Superintendent, Doon Hospital.

Of Rs 2 crore sanctioned by the state government, Rs 1.5 crore is expected to go for the purchase of medicines for indoor and outdoor patients and local purchase while Rs 22 lakh would be paid for the diet of patients. “In addition, we have to pay Rs 6 lakh as outstanding payment for the past six months to food supplier. The hospital has also incurred a liability of Rs 4 crore that too has to be taken care off,” said Dr KC Pant, senior physician.

While presenting the budget estimate, the hospital authorities had prepared an estimate of Rs 23 lakh for carrying out repair in the private wards of the hospital and procurement of surgical goods, X-ray films and salary of contractual staff.

The yearly spending of the hospital on the procurement of medicines under local purchase stands at Rs 1.80 crore. “The hospital has limited resources and depends on collection through user charges which goes into the government’s coffers,” said a senior doctor.

However, the hospital has got some help from the Centre. The cost for providing the central oxygen supply system for wards in the new building would be borne through the National Rural Health Mission programme. A sum of Rs 155 lakh has been sanctioned for this purpose and Rs 40 lakh for the setting up public address system at Doon Hospital. All these proposals would be presented at a meeting of the Doon Hospital management committee slated for tomorrow.

Authorities admit to presence of poachers in Corbett National Park
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 21
Amid reports of presence of poachers in the tiger famous Jim Corbett National Park, the state forest authorities, for the first time, have admitted the presence of poachers at Corbett and said they were holding field investigations to zero in on the poachers.

Director, Anti-Poaching Cell, state Forest Department, and Chief Conservator of Forests SK Dutt admitted that they had received credible inputs about presence of poachers in the park and were now holding field investigations to zero in on the poachers.

Dutt said it is a well established fact that the Bawaria gang members had been active in the Corbett region in the past and their presence in Corbett could not be ruled out this time. He, however, held that the strict vigil on the part of forest guards had so far prevented the poachers for going into any misadventure inside the park.

On the other hand, contesting Uttarakhand Forest authorities claim that poachers were presently not indulging in any poaching inside Corbett. On this, Gauri Maulekhi, Uttarakhand member secretary, People For Animals, who had been constantly complaining about poaching activity taking place in Corbett to National Tiger Conservation Authority, argued that the state forest officials must explain their point of view when they say poachers were present in Corbett but were not poaching.

Wildlife conservationist Hem Singh Gehlot asserts that the state Forest Department needed to deal with poachers strictly than going for wait and watch policy. He said Corbett tigers were certainly vulnerable to poaching as the region falls in the close proximity of Nepal where tiger skin continues to be in big demand.

Meanwhile, Maulekhi is hopeful for a prompt action from the NTCA. She said the NTCA authorities had assured her of looking into the matter on priority basis.

Wildlife Protection Society of India, Uttarakhand head, Rajendra Agrawal, too held that the organisation had been from time to time providing inputs to the state Forest authorities about the presence of poachers in the Corbett region but asserted that the state Forest Department did not show enough enthusiasm towards the intelligence inputs provided by them.

Veerappa Moili addresses IAS trainees in Mussoorie
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, June 21
Minister for Corporate Affairs Veerappa Moili, on a two-day visit to Mussoorie, addressed the phase IV IAS trainees at the Lal Bhadur Shastri National Academy of Administration on Wednesday.

The minister arrived with his cavalcade here last evening and spoke to about 120 trainee officers on the issue of administrative reforms.

The minister said India had to move from a “trust deficit” to “trust excess” country and the administrative reforms were the vehicle that would take the country there.

Moily while speaking to The Tribune during a brief halt on Mall Road yesterday said he had an extensive interaction with the IAS trainees. He emphasised on reforms in governance and administration as it had become the focus of attention in recognition of the fact that good governance was essential for ensuring success of development schemes.

He also stressed on bringing improvement in the quality of life of the people and eradicating poverty as due to rapid and fundamental changes taking place in the political economic and technological fields the need for major reforms in our system of governance and public administration had assumed greater urgency.

Moily recommended that the administrative reforms should begin with setting right the asymmetry of power, as there was an imbalance in the exercise of power in governance where often systemic rigidities, needless complexities and over centralisation made public servants ineffective and helpless in achieving positive outcomes. On the other hand, abuse of authority through flagrant violation of law, petty tyranny and nuisance value went virtually unchecked.

The minister said he also highlighted the fact that the situation had aggravated by the asymmetry of power in our society and it needed to be set right in efforts towards public services reforms through sustained capacity buildings and training which could change mindsets.

Moily also emphasised on insulating civil servants from undue political interference, professionalism with stability of tenure and competition, citizen-centric administration, accountability, and promoting public service values and ethics.

Asked about the charges of corruption in the allocation of coal blocks levelled by Team Anna and the BJP, he said all these allegations were untrue and baseless and the truth would be revealed in near future. The Union Cabinet minister left for the Jolly Grant airport last evening.

Earlier Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa, also paid a visit to the Lbsnaa Academy on Wednesday and interacted with the officer trainees here.

He also paid a visit to the residence of his old friend Ganesh Joshi, MLA from Mussoorie, and both discussed several issues relating to tourism. Joshi told The Tribune that the Goa Chief Minister showed concern over the lack of parking facilities in Mussoorie. He said Parrikar was of the view that public representatives should pay a visit to Goa and share their experiences with each other in order to improve the tourism prospects in the country.

Aslam Khan hopes to strengthen SP in state 
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, June 21
Newly appointed in-charge of Uttarakhand affairs of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Aslam Khan hopes that during his tenure the ‘cycle’ will climb up the hills.

Aslam, who was in Haridwar during his maiden visit to the sttate, acknowledged the fact that the SP had failed to make an impact in Uttarakhand despite 12 years of the formation of the state.

The veteran leader said now this was a thing of the past and urged party leaders and activists to work together so that the party could leave a mark in the upcoming panchayat and Lok Sabha elections.

Aslam cited the SP’s landslide victory in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and thereafter good governance by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and said the same could be replicated in Uttarakhand too as both states complimented each other.

Asked about SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav retracting from his open stance of going with the Trinamool Congress with regard to the candidate for the presidential election, Aslam said at the national-level various aspects needed to be taken into consideration and efforts were on to have a unanimous candidate owing to prestige attached to the coveted post.

Uttarakhand SP president Vinod Barthwal supported hydropower projects and urged the saint community to look into economical and development aspects related with the generation of power from these projects.

Barthwal, who lost the Assembly election from the Rajpur seat, said rivers in Uttarakhand had the capacity to generate 40,000 MW, but were at present generating less than 2,000 MW, which was a matter of concern.

Barthwal spoke in favour of small projects rather than big projects like Tehri Dam, which had affected more than a lakh people.

He termed Utttarkhand as a playground of Asia and urged the Central government and the Congress government in the state to develop 52 religious shrines and 72 historical places, besides 200 tourist spots and 500 hot water adventure mountain climbing spots in the state.

URM to field Mazhar Ahmed from Sitarganj
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 21
Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha has decided to field a candidate for Sitarganj byelection in Uttarakhand.

In a statement issued today, morcha's spokesman PC Thapliyal said Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha had decided to pit Mazhar Ahmed alias Munna in the Sitarganj byelection. He said the morcha did not intend to give a walkover to Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna from Sitarganj as was being done by a number of parties.

He said the morcha was committed to the principles of democracy and would stand strongly against usage of money power in politics. He held that Morcha president Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd), SS Pangtey and Rajendra Bhandari apart from Punjabi Krantikari Morcha's convener Kunwar Jupendra Singh will be the star campaigners for the party in the byelections. 

Death of Ganga Activist
Matra Sadan may move HC against CBI’s report
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, June 21
While a large number of people are coming to the city to offer their tributes to late Ganga activist Swami Nigamanand at Matra Sadan, inmates of Matra Sadan are preparing to move to the Uttarakhand High Court against the closure report of the CBI which stated that no poison was given to Nigamanand. He died after 108 days of continuous fast on the issue of saving the Ganga from quarrying.

Matra Sadan founder Swami Shivanand Saraswati is now contemplating to take the legal route against the CBI’s closure report in the case that had been accepted by a lower court.

Shivanand alleged that some officers of the CBI were involved in making the Matra Sadan case weak.

He pointed out that when the nurse who had given an injection to Nigamanand in the hospital was still to be recognised, how the CBI could file a closure report in the case.

Shivanand said the CBI officials had assured him that the medical report would be re-examined by a separate medical board, but nothing had been done so far.

Shivanand, who was spearheading the save Ganga movement from his Jagjeetpur-based ashram, said he had full faith in the Indian judiciary. The mission of Matra Sadan and Nigamanand’s martyrdom would not be allowed to go in vain due to nefarious designs of the quarrying mafia aided by some bureaucrats.

Notably, on June 15 last year the then Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, yielding to public pressure had ordered a CBI inquiry into Nigamanand’s death.

Nigamanand had started a fast on February 19, 2011, and was shifted to the district government hospital in Haridwar after his health deteriorated on April 27. Later, he went into coma and had to be admitted to the Jolly Grant Hospital in Rishikesh on April 27. He was first diagnosed with “unknown poisoning” at the hospital. He was treated with antidotes after the serum report confirmed poisoning. Incidentally, it was the same hospital where yoga guru Ramdev was admitted after his agitation against black money at Jantar Mantar and later at Patanjali Yogpeeth.

Leopard menace plays havoc in Kumaon region
Forest fires force animals to enter human settlements
Our correspondent

Pithoragarh, June 21
Two persons, including a five-year-old girl and a 60-year-old woman, were injured and two youths escaped an attack by leopards in different incidents in this part of Kumaon region as the animals are entering into human settlements due to forest fires and lack of their prey base in the forests adjoining these villages.

According to Pithoragarh forest division officials, the girl was attacked by a leopard in Uppartola village near the town on Wednesday night. On hearing her screams, the villagers gathered and saved the girl named Sapna from the clutches of the leopard. The injured girl has been admitted to district hospital. “This is the second case in the same family as another girl from same family was killed by a leopard in the same village,” said Pithoragarh DFO

In another leopard attack, the 60-year-old woman was badly injured by in Hat village of Haukhutia block of Almora district, when she was returning from her fields at 8 pm on Wednesday. “After hearing her screams, her son chased the leopard away, who left the injured woman, who was later admitted to a nearby hospital,” said Vikram Singh Kaira, a forest officer, who reached the hospital to take care of the injured person.

In Almora, the forest officer worked hard to tranquilise the leopard which had strayed into Almora deer park on Wednesday due to fire in nearby jungles. “The leopard was left in the forests thereafter," said the forest officer.

The people of Thal town in Pithoragarh district are scared of leopards, which enter into their villages very often. “The leopards have already killed three persons in this area. They again attacked two children of Sata village near Thal yesterday. The children could save themselves only after they fled into a house,” said D.S. Khati, a forest officer. 

Six held for raping girl from West Bengal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 21
Six persons have been arrested from the Brahmpuri area of Patel Nagar for raping Megha (name changed), a girl from West Bengal, for the past one week.

The girl who was brought to the town by one of the culprits, Atul Trivedi, on the promise of employment on June 13, put her up in a rented accommodation in Brahmpuri area, but instead of facilitating

employment, he involved several of his friends in raping her all these days. It was at 2 in the night, she called police on 100 number, but the police could not reach the destination as her mobile got switched off.

It was in the morning that the police could meet her and nab rest of the culprits on her information.

The names of the other culprits are Matinder, resident of Vikasnagar, Shanu, Deepak Chaudhary, Mahmud and Javed, all from Saharnpur. Atul belongs to Kanpur.

Megha, who comes from Singoor, West Bengal, made friends with one DP Pandey, who lives in Lucknow on the Internet. It was there that she revealed her poor financial status to him. Her father died many years ago. Pandey called Megha to Lucknow to facilitate interaction with one of his friends who, he said, had given advertisements for various positions in newspapers. When Megha reached Lucknow, he sent her with Trivedi, asking her to go with him to Dehradun for a job. Megha, a B.Com graduate, came with Trivedi, who put her up in a rented accommodation, where in the rest of the two rooms, Mehmud, a carpenter, and Javed, a tailor also lived in the same accomdoation and shared the same kitchen and washroom. Shanu had recently come with his family to Javed’s place for a vacation, whereas Deepak Chaudhary was a friend of Mehmud.

Megha accused all of them for raping her for then past one week. She put up with all this waiting to get a job in the end but when it became clear to her that the accused had no intention to providing her with a job, she decided to inform the police.

The culprits blamed Megha for running a flesh trade from the place. Trivedi alleged that it was she who brought him in town for a job. He, however, kept changing his statements. The police has sent them to jail and the girl has been sent for a medical examination. Thereafter, her statement would be recorded before a magistrate.