Byelection on July 8
Congress, BJP hold rallies in Sitarganj
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 6
Both Congress and BJP held motorcycle rallies in poll-bound Sitarganj to attract the voters as the electioneering ended at 5 pm today.

According to information, while the BJP held two motorcycle rallies in the Sitarganj and Shaktifarm areas, the Congress held a 10-km motorcycle rally from Sitarganj to Shaktifarm. The Congress rally was attended by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, his two sons, his sister and Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Uttarakhand minister Mantri Prasad Nathani and former Nainital MP Mahindra Pal.

The BJP rallies were attended by party candidate Prakash Pant, party president Bishen Singh Chufal and general secretary Suresh Joshi.

Of 91,247 voters, the Sitarganj seat has about 28,000 Bengali voters, followed by 16,000 Muslims, 12,000 migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh, 1,000 Schedule Caste voters, 6,000 Tharu, 7,000 migrants from hill parts of the state and 7,000 from migrants from Punjab, besides 5,000 belonging to the Vaishaya community. “As the traditional BJP voters still seem to be with the party which is fighting the byelection seriously, the winning margin is likely to be narrow,” said Mohan Rajput, a local journalist.

According to local political observers, as the Muslim, Bengali and Sikh voters seem to be with the Congress and other communities are divided, the Congress seems to have an edge over the BJP.

“The BJP is banking mostly on the voters from hills, Tharu and Punjabi Vaishya community, besides on the Congress government failure to do much to resolve the problems of these communities,” said a senior BJP leader.

He said senior BJP leaders were going door to door in the constituency even as the BJP Youth Morcha organised a rally today. The leaders who took part in the door-to-door campaign were Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bishen Singh Chufal, Suresh Joshi and Ajay Bhatt, he added. 

 Rain hits Char Dham yatra
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 6
Rain continues to disrupt the Char Dham yatra at number of places in the state. The Rishikesh-Badrinath highway remained blocked at Birahi and Pagalnala today. A large number pilgrims remained stranded at Kodiyala due to another landslide in the evening.

Nodal officer for the yatra monitoring cell Dilip Jawalkar also admitted that due to rain, roads are blocked at number of places. He said the administration was taking all possible measures to ensure that pilgrims did not face hardships.

He said the pilgrims could get information regarding the latest update on weather conditions at places falling on the Char Dham yatra routes on toll free number 1070.

He said the district administrations had also been issued directions to ensure well-being of the stranded pilgrims.

Jawalkar said action would also taken against those shopkeepers and hotel owners who charge exorbitant rates from the pilgrims.

He further said Chief Medical Officers had been asked to make necessary medical arrangements. The Jal Sansthan had also been directed to ensure the availability of water tankers at places where pilgrims were stranded.

Jawalkar said it was also being ensured that there was no food and fuel scarcity in the districts falling in the Char Dham routes. 

 Eight villages disaster-prone in Champawat
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, July 6
Champawat Additional District Magistrate Deepti Singh has said that eight villages in the blocks of Barakot and Pati in Champawat have been identified as natural disaster-prone areas.

The administration has also identified 16 places where choppers can land in case of any emergency.

"Revenue officials have been asked to remain alert and also take cooperation from other departments if required," said Additional District Magistrate Deepti Singh.

The villages that fall in the Pati block are Maunkanda, Sundukra, Takna and Kumaiya Kura and those in the Barakot block are Tarigaon, Galla, Bera Bedwal and Kamajyula.

The Additional District Magistrate further said: "Besides this, we have also identified 16 places where choppers can land in case of any emergency."

The Champawat administration said the BRO had deployed bulldozers at sensitive points of NH-9, which connected Tanakpur with interior parts of Pithoragarh district.

"Three 108 service ambulances and three ambulances from Champawat District Hospital are also ready if any natural disaster occurs in the district," said the Additional District Magistrate.

 15 centres set up for ITI entrance in Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 6
A total of 15 centres have been set up in Haridwar for the ITI joint entrance examination scheduled to be held on July 24. Nearly 28,000 candidates are appearing in the examination. A total of 74 centres have been established in the state.

The examination is being conducted by the Uttarakhand Pravidhik Siksha Parishad, Roorkee, and a total of 28,193 candidates have submitted the forms.

Joint Secretary, Uttarakhand Pravidhik Siksha Parishad, Dr Hari Singh said admit cards were being issued to the applicants. They could also get information from their office in Roorkee or on the website, he added. 

 Minister: State suitable for winter sports
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 6
Uttarakhand Sports, Youth Welfare and Information Technology Minister Dinesh Agarwal has stressed that sportspersons in the state must be encouraged.

Presiding over the meeting of top officials of the state Sports Department today, Agarwal said the state Sports Department must undertake serious efforts towards exploring the possibility of staging of youth mahotsava, national games and other sports activities in the state.

He said even efforts should be undertaken in the direction of betterment of sports infrastructure in the state. He said the state of Uttarakhand had immense possibilities in sports and was most ideally suited for high-altitude games, particularly winter sports.

He directed for speedy construction of proposed international stadium at Haldwani and Dehradun and also in the setting up of high-altitude games academy. He ordered for expediting the proposed works for Parade Ground and Pavilion Ground.

 Rising water level in Ganga poses threat
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 6
Despite rain eluding Haridwar, yet the fear of cutting of land adjacent to the Ganga looms large in the district. This has come as a wake-up call for the administration that is occupied in managing the ongoing Kanwar fair and also busy in giving up last-minute touches to disaster management projects.

With heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of Garhwal division, the level in the Ganga and the Ganga canal is quite high with many belts on Neel Dhara, Shyampur, Roorkee reporting cutting of portion of the land area.

On the Haridwar-Kotdwara stretch, a whole portion of road caved in as more than normal water was released in the East Ganga canal which has disrupted the traffic on this route which is used as a bypass to reach Kotdwara.

Now, the canal has been dried up to rectify the damage and as monsoon season is just round the corner it's an arduous task to reconstruct the caved-in portion.

SDM Uttam Singh Chauhan also inspected the damaged stretch who has urged the Irrigation Department to stop the canal flow to make sure no further damage occured.

Now, the vehicles plying on this route are being diverted towards the Haridwar-Najibabad National Highway to reach Kotdwara which is posing problems to commuters as in the coming days, the vehicle movement would get affected on this highway owing to increase in the number of Kanwariyas that come from the Muzzaffarnagar and Bijnore region.

Even the last-minute work of building embankments at various other stretches is getting further affected as high level of water in the Ganga is making it difficult for the labourers to build slur and stone embankments.

In view of the fast current of water in both Ganga and Ganga canal, pilgrims, Kanwariyas and tourists are being urged to be cautious while bathing on the river ghats as the water level is quite high with many ghats stairs and safety chains getting submerged.

Irrigation Department officials said currently above 30,000 cusecs of water were recorded in the Ganga canal which is bound to go up in the coming days if rain continues in Garhwal division.

SDO, Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, Virendra Singh, said due to muddy water, silt accumulation will also pose problem.

 Make action plan for saving Nainital environment: Guv
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 6
Governor Aziz Qureshi held a meeting regarding the deteriorating condition of Nainital and called upon the district administration to develop an action plan for saving the city from various pressures that it was facing.

He met several eminent intellectuals of Nainital along with administrative officials and held discussions on pollution, illegal construction, the condition of the Naini lake, parking problems and uncontrolled traffic.

Senior citizens participating in the meeting appreciated the initiative taken by the Governor to save the environment of the hill station.

Falling level of water in the Naini lake, the increasing garbage being disposed off in it, drying up of water sources due to illegal construction, improvement in drainage system, uncontrolled traffic and parking problems were discussed at the meeting.

Concern was expressed at the threat being posed to the city by the Balia Nala and stress was laid on treating it.

The Governor said all possible efforts on the administrative level would be made to save the beauty of Nainital but active support of citizens was needed.

He said he wanted to place Nainital prominently on the international tourism map. He said the ‘sharadotsav’ of Nainital would be held again from this year onwards. As part of this, several sports competitions, cultural programmes and carnivals would be held.

Principal Secretary to the Governor Shri Ashok Pai, MLA Sarita Arya, historians and scholars Ajay Rawat and Dr Shekhar Pathak, Dr Ranjit Bhargava, a well-known environmentalist, mountaineer Anup Shah, Praveen Sharma, Boat House president Naseem Khan and secretary AS Gill and Sudarshan Shah were also present at the meeting.

 Govt encouraging private nursing colleges: Chief Secy
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 6
Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain has said that the state government is trying to create better employment opportunities for girls by opening nursing colleges in the state.

Chairing a meeting of the Empowered Committee constituted for establishing nursing colleges here today, Alok Jain said there was a dearth of paramedical staff in the country and vast potential of employment in this sector, so the state government had been encouraging the opening of private nursing colleges in the state.

He directed the officials concerned to ensure that the norms of the All-India Nursing Council were fulfilled by the applicants before granting no objection certificates to them. He said there should be a positive approach for such proposals, so that the maximum people invest in paramedical sector.

Jain instructed the officials to ensure that the private organisations proposing to open private nursing institute provide guarantee of the completion of total course to the girls taking admission in the institutes.

He said a performance guarantee could also be taken from the institute and aspects such as land ownership of the institute concerned, its financial condition and seriousness in running the institute should be examined.

He advocated making the process simpler and practical. He said it should be ensured that the investors did not have to face inconvenience in the process.

The Chief Secretary also instructed the officials to complete the formalities of setting up the Regional Institute of Paramedical Sciences at Government Medical College, Haldwani.

The committee considered the proposals submitted by Max Hospital, Dehradun, Jeevan Rekha School of Nursing, Kashipur, Modern Institute of Nursing, Rishikesh, Pragati School of Nursing, Kashipur, Ganesh Education Research Centre, Haridwar, Naina School of Nursing, Haldwani, and Chandraprakash Pandey Memorial Hospital, Khatima.

Out of all, only Max Hospital, Jeevan Rekha School of Nursing and Modern Institute of Nursing fulfilled the norms. After checking land ownership and 120-bed hospital, NOC to run nursing institutes would be granted to them.

They will run the nursing institute after obtaining affiliation from the National Council of Nursing.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Medical and Health Dr Ranveer Singh, Secretary, Medical Education, Manisha Panwar, Additional Secretary, Kunwar Singh, the DG, Health, and other senior officials.

 Centre clears Lakhwar Vyasi power project
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 6
The Centre has given consent for the start of the 300 MW Lakhwar Vyasi Hydroelectric project to be built on the Yamuna by the state government. The Union government has also agreed to finance the project.

The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Chief secretaries and power secretaries of the state and Himachal Pradesh with Pulok Chatterjee, Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister, in New Delhi. The meeting was held to discuss the power projects between the two neighbouring states.

For the construction of the Kishau Dam, the state has already completed the initial formalities while Himachal Pradesh has also been instructed to follow the suit.

The Prime Minister’s office also instructed the Central government officials concerned to give immediate required clearance and financial assistance for the Lakhwar Vysai project so that the construction work starts immediately.

State Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain and Power Secretary SS Sandhu also pleaded for reopening of the stalled power projects in the state. They argued that the gap between the supply and demand had increased and the people of the state were not getting uninterrupted power supply. They said the restart of the stalled hydropower projects was in the interest of the state as well as the nation.

The 600 MW Kishau Dam project, to be built on the Tons river, a tributary of the Yamuna, is a joint venture of the state and HP. It would also benefit Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and New Delhi. 

 Black marketing of LPG goes on in Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, July 6
Despite tall claims being made by the Food and Supplies Department of no black marketing of LPG cylinders in the city, customers still have to line up for hours to get a single cylinder.

LPG mafia is accruing huge profits as the shortage of LPG cylinders is being witnessed these days when the Kanwar fair is going on. The mafia waits for the fair as due to an influx of Kanwariyas, the supply of LPG cylinders and other goods gets affected due to the restriction of movement of heavy goods vehicles on national highways.

LPG cylinders are easily available on black market rates with some even providing home delivery of the cylinders openly.

A few days ago, a raid was carried out at the Bahadrabad block in which an LPG mafia was exposed. It used to carry out black marketing of domestic cylinders on large scale. The group was selling domestic cylinders at the Bahadrabad -based LPG godown at exorbitant rates. A total of 284 cylinders were seized and four people were arrested.

The cylinders, which were meant to be transported to hill districts, were being sold in Haridwar. district Food Supplies Officer PS Pangti told the TNS that main culprit Sewa Ram, resident of Jamalpur village, had also been arrested and a case had been registered against him at the local police station.

He said investigation was on in the matter.

Notably, in February this year, a team of CBI from Dehradun had carried out several surprise raids at various LPG gas outlets and agencies.

RC Dhiman, office-bearer of CPI (M) district unit, said the administration had failed drastically in controlling black marketing of domestic cylinders. “It is shocking that despite being a new state, we are facing constant failure in providing basic amenities to the people, particularly of hill states, who have to wait for days to get a single LPG connection.

 Govt serious about filling 2 posts of Director in UTDB
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 6
It is for the first time after 11 years of the formation of the state that serious efforts are being made to fill two posts of Director in the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB). One more post of Director and three of Additional Directors are still vacant.

Till date two Deputy Directors have been overseeing the entire business in the UTDB in the absence of Directors and Additional Directors. However, they never had powers to take any decision on their own and had to report directly to the Principle Secretary or Additional Secretary of Tourism.

The Deputy Directors had merely been processing files and keeping the Principal Secretary updated, delivering lectures in seminars and workshops or attending trade fairs held in the country or abroad. The support that the Directors could have extended to the Secretaries was never available.

The sources, however, indicated that earlier the Secretary-level officers too never showed willingness to fill these posts as they enjoyed all powers and perks that they would have to share if five more officers were appointed in the Tourism Department. The Deputy Directors too had a good time with no one to report to in the UTDB. Their powers and privileges too increased as they had been performing the functions of their seniors.

Tourism is very important for the state from revenue and employment point of view. Earlier only half-hearted efforts were made to fill these posts. Principle Secretary, Tourism, SS Sandhu said, “The government is quite serious about improving the state of affairs in the tourism sector, which is why applications have been invited for two posts of Director in the UTDB. It will be ensured that the candidates selected for these posts are highly qualified and experienced so that they can contribute significantly to the growth of tourism in the state.”

The last date for submitting applications for the posts of Director, Marketing and Publicity, and Director, Infrastructure Investment of Planning, was June 8. However, the candidates for the two posts, which are for a three-year contract, were yet to be announced.

The UTDB, which is the most important wing of the Tourism Department, prepares tourism-related projects under state or Central schemes, receives grants and builds infrastructure accordingly. Rest houses built by it all over the state have been handed over to another wing of the department, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, on lease.