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Cabinet nod to entry tax, PPP Policy
Salaries of 200 contractual doctors increased
Potholed roads give hard time to Mussoorie residents
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Mayor seeks details of damage to property due to rains
Provide better transport services in state: Hridyesh
Anti-quota employees to launch agitation from today
Quota in Promotions
NRI industrialist offers support in solving power crisis
Doon Global School, North Point School win football matches
Eid-ul-Fitr celebrated in RIMC
DM pulls up tehsildars
3 held for killing man over parking
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Cabinet nod to entry tax, PPP Policy
Dehradun, August 21 Taking a cue from Himachal Pradesh and Goa, the Cabinet approved the levying of an entry tax on vehicles entering the state. “The vehicles carrying goods would be charged between Rs 40 and Rs 60, passenger vehicles between Rs 20 and Rs 60 and private vehicles Rs 30 depending on their capacity,” Alok Kumar Jain, Chief Secretary, told mediapersons. It also gave nod to an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Taxation Reform Act (2003), reducing multiplicity of taxes and bringing uniformity in taxes in both hill and plain areas of the state. “To encourage the practice of hiring buses or cabs for schools, a separate category has been created for the tax purpose,” said Jain. The Cabinet cleared the Public Private Partnership Policy keeping in view about 70 projects in various sectors being run under the PPP mode. Earlier the state had a procurement policy in which the PPP mode found a mention. According to the PPP policy, a sub-committee of the empowered group of ministers (six ministers) headed by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna would have the powers to sanction projects costing between Rs 5 crore and Rs 250 crore. “Another empowered committee on infrastructure headed by the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretaries and the Secretaries of the power, industries, PWD, finance and planning departments would examine the proposals of above Rs 25 crore,” said Jain. The Beach Camping Policy was also approved. According to it, two categories (class A and B) had been created for the grant of licences for beach camping activities. Under the class A category less than 1 hectare would be set aside for local players while under the class B category more than 1 hectare would be open for competitive bidding by private players. S. Ramaswamy, Principal Secretary, Planning, clarified the process of allotment of licences under the Beach Camping Policy and said the interest of the locals would be protected through the right to first refusal (during bidding). It would be ensured that 70 per cent of the jobs in the projects were given to the local people. All rivers would now be open for the beach camping activities, he added. Besides, proposals for amendments to the Rules and Regulation of the Van Panchayat Act were approved. These included 50 per cent reservation for women in posts of sarpanch, activities pertaining to water and soil conservation to be taken on priority and a compulsory holding of elections within three months of the dissolving of the working committee of van panchayats.
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Salaries of 200 contractual doctors increased
Dehradun, August 21 It has also simplified rules for the renewal of the contract of super specialists in key district hospitals. The decision has been taken to make government service attractive for contractual doctors. “MBBS doctors serving in accessible areas will get Rs 48,000, Rs 52,000 in inaccessible areas and Rs 56,000 in extreme inaccessible areas. Doctors with PG diploma (MD) will get Rs 52,000 if serving in accessible areas, Rs 56,000 in inaccessible areas and Rs 60,000 in inaccessible areas. Specialist doctors in accessible areas will get Rs 55,000, Rs 59,000 in inaccessible areas and Rs 63,000 in extreme inaccessible areas,” said Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, while addressing mediapersons at the end of the Cabinet meeting today. Owing to a delay in the renewal of yearly contracts of super specialists, Doon Hospital, Coronation Hospital and hospitals in Haldwani, Pauri, Almora, Kotdwar and Srinagar have been without their services for the past more than seven months. “We have decided to recruit super specialists on contract for a period of three years instead of one year. After this, any extension or the withdrawal of the contract will require the Cabinet's approval. The yearly performance appraisal of doctors will now be done with the approval of the minister concerned,” said Jain. In Uttarakhand, there are a total of 13 posts of super specialist. Of this, six are in Dehradun. The Cabinet has also reversed the decision of the previous BJP government to name Uttarakhand Affiliating University after BJP leader Deen Dayal Upadhaya and renamed it Sri Dev Suman University. It has given nod to rename five state-funded Navodyaya Vidyalayas (being run on the central pattern of Jawaharlal Navodyaya Vidyalyas) Rajiv Gandhi Navodyaya Vidyalayas. These were earlier named after BJP leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. The five schools will be run under the PPP mode. “An arrangement has been worked out according to which 50 per cent of the seats in these five schools will be sponsored by the government. For the remaining the seats, the private partner will have the right to fix fee. No assets will be transferred to the private partner. Proposals will be invited through bids,” said Chief Secretary Jain.
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Potholed roads give hard time to Mussoorie residents
Mussoorie, August 21 Despite several senior-level bureaucratic meetings held in the past, no efforts have been made to improve the condition of the roads which are in a dire need of repair. With the advent of monsoon and rains lashing on the roads which do not have adequate drainage system in place the roads have taken a beating and stand damaged to extreme extent today. The recent rains have revealed the shoddy patchwork done to hide the potholes on roads in the town as most of them were filled with mud which frequent rain lashes have washed away. The roads have now developed cracks that have widened to alarming levels posing threat to the commuters, school-going children. The tourists arriving in Mussoorie, being critical of the condition of the roads here, opined that due to the bad condition of roads, their vehicles were at the receiving end. The roads near the Kempty stand, Library Bazaar, Landour Bazaar and Kingcraig have incurred severe damage are still awaiting the repair work. Several roads that were dug due to the ongoing sewerage project have not been repaired and have been left unattended. Deepak, a resident, said the PWD and Peyjal Nigam were responsible for the present condition of the road. “Had Peyjal Nigam completed the work of filling the potholes on time and PWD acted immediately, such condition would not have arisen in the first place,” he added. Executive Engineer CM Pandey, PWD, said Peyjal Nigam was to be blamed for the present condition of the roads. Before taking up patchwork, they had warned the Peyjal Nigam that it would wear soon. The PWD had proposed reconstruction of the whole road instead of repair work on the three metre area on both sides of the dug up road, but the Peyjal Nigam paid them for only the three metre area. The nigam officials were not available for comments, he said. He further stated that the work had been delayed due to continuous rain and could start only after monsoon.
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Mayor seeks details of damage to property due to rains
Dehradun, August 21 Chamoli said, “The tumultuous rain has unleashed damage to the properties throughout the city. I have demanded detailed explanation from MNA Ashok Kumar with regard to the affected areas which come under the Dehradun Muncipal Corporation (DMC).” He said he would begin the damage control exercise only after identifying the area and the extent of the damage. “The information is pouring from all sides about the damage but it is not yet clear which part of the locality has suffered the most. The District Administration or PWD will take care of the affected part of the localities. The DMC will take charge of the things under its domain,” he said. — TNS
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Provide better transport services in state: Hridyesh
Dehradun, August 21 Hridyesh was chairing a meeting in her office here to discuss the ways and means to make the transport system better and safe in the state, especially in the hill regions, including purchase of new buses for Uttarakhand Parivahan Nigam (Uttarakhand Transport Corporation). She stressed that the old buses should be immediately removed from the fleet and replaced by new buses to curb the incidence of mishaps caused due to faulty vehicles. Speaking at the meeting, Transport Minister Surendra Rakesh referred to his recent visit to Australia and stressed that like Australia, Uttarakhand must also provide transport in the hill regions. He said that 600 buses were needed to provide smooth services in hill areas. At present, the state transport corporation has a fleet of 1,127 buses out of which 473 are being run in hills and 654 buses are plying in plains. He said in 2011-12, the corporation earned Rs 264.74 crore while the expenditure was Rs 289.94 crore and expected that the annual loss of Rs 25 crore incurred to run the buses in hill region should be borne by the state government. Secretary, Transport, Umakant Panwar briefed the meeting regarding the strategy to minimise the losses of the corporation. The meeting also discussed the possibility of the state government helping the corporation to overcome its losses and also bearing the expense for the purchase of new buses.
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Anti-quota employees to launch agitation from today
Pithoragarh, August 21 Employees against and in favour of reservation for the SC and ST categories in promotion in government jobs have become vocal following the Nainital High Court order quashing the quota and the indecisiveness of the state government on the issue. “As the caste system has not been eradicated from Indian society even after 65 years of Independence, how they say the SC and ST category employees have been empowered enough to scrap reservation in promotions,” said Sudarshan Prasad Tamta, president of the Indian National Social Action Forum. The members of the SC, ST Employees Federation, who met in Lohaghat town of Champawat district today, said those who were opposing reservation in promotions were actually waiting to oppose it in government jobs as well. “When the social system of the country has remained what it was at the time of Independence, what is the logic of removing the empowering tools for the people who remained deprived of social equality for centuries and were empowered by the Constitution,” said TR Tamta, convener of the SC, ST Employees Federation in the Kumaon region. In Pithoragarh, the newly formed Employees-Teachers Action Forum decided that it would launch an agitation if the government did not obey the orders of the high court quashing reservation in promotions. “The government is not obeying the court orders to end reservation in promotions due to political pressure,” said BD Niyolia, patron of the forum.
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SC, ST employees hold rally
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, August 21 The protesters first paid obeisance at a statue of Baba Sahib Bhim Rao Ambedkar at Clock Tower and held a token dharna. They later held a meeting at Parade Ground. Madan Shilpkar, president of the federation, said the Uttarakhand government should bring a Bill for quota in promotions that could not be challenged in court. “The Uttarakhand government had passed a proposal for quota in promotions for members of the SC and ST communities at a Cabinet meeting on March 12 this year. Now, it is the time to bring an Act,” said Shilapkar. Besides, the employees criticised the government for failing to fill the backlog of vacancies in government departments according to the reservation policy. “Soon after the Congress government came to power, it had promised to launch a special drive for filling the backlog of vacancies in the government departments, but so far it had done nothing,” said Rohit Kumar, general secretary of the federation. They also demanded the implementation of the Kaushik Committee report on the issuance of caste certificates to the SC and ST communities. The meeting was attended by employees belonging to the SC and ST categories from different government departments.
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NRI industrialist offers support in solving power crisis
Haridwar, August 21 Kumar has sought for favourable condition in Uttarakhand to install solar and biomass energy plant with his own expenditure that will initially produce 100 MW power. In an email to TNS, Swami Chidanand wrote that he will be holding talks with Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in this regard when he comes back to India from United States. “If this project becomes successful, it will be a great help and a solution to the power problem,” said Chidanand, who also assured of land availability to the project.
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Doon Global School, North Point School win football matches
Dehradun, August 21 In the first match, Doon Global School trounced Selaqui International School by 3-0. Laksh Thapa of Doon Global School scored two goals while Sushil scored the third goal for his team. In the second match of the day, North Point School defeated New Life Centre 4-0. Ashwani Thapa and Nivesh Gurung scored two goals each to steer their team to 4-0 victory. Col Brown School will clash with Kendriaya Vidyalaya, IMA, tomorrow while Doon Global School will take on North Point School.
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Eid-ul-Fitr celebrated in RIMC
Dehradun, August 21 Cdt. Abdul Muzeeb of the RIMC also shed light on Eid while the maulvi explained the significance of the holy month of Ramzan and of fasting. He also praised the RIMC for instilling the spirit of brotherhood in the cadets as it greatly reduced the discrimination in society.Commadant Col Pankaj K Kumaria expressed gratitude to the moulvi for sparing his valuable time. The other dignitaries present were Lt Col Ambarish Tiwari, Adm Officers, RIMC, CS Vishwakarma, vice-principal, RIMC Wing Commander S K Thapliyal, Maj R. Richardson, Assistant Adm Officer, RIMC, Lt(IN) Pinku Haiekam and PK Sharma. —TNS
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DM pulls up tehsildars
Dehradun, August 21 The DM said he would take strict action if complaint was registered against any one of them. He pulled them up saying they should not harass the beneficiaries for bringing income certificate as it wasted a lot of time and delayed the procedure.
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3 held for killing man over parking
Dehradun, August 21 The accused got involved in a scuffle with Abdullah over a minor issue of parking. Abdullah suffered serious injuries on his head when he was beaten up by the trio and died soon. The accused ran away but were arrested by the police this afternoon. —TNS
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Dehradun, August 21
