More Cabinet ministers ready to fly abroad
Dehradun, January 5
Following in the footsteps of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who recently returned from a trip to South Africa, some more Cabinet ministers are waiting to fly to foreign shores in the coming months.

Players in action during a match in the 7th Abhishek Dabral Memorial Football Tournament in Dehradun on Saturday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

Echocardiography machine functional after two days
Dehradun, January 5
Much to the relief of heart patients who come for check up at the Doon Hospital, the echocardiography machine that had developed snag two days ago has become functional now. The authorities of the Doon Hospital were at their wits’ end after the company, from where the machine was procured, refused to send their engineers for undertaking repairs. “Finally, the services of an engineer of another company were sought to repair the machine. The engineer managed to resolve the software problem,” said Dr KB Joshi, cardiologist.

Dehradun, January 5
Aligning with the stand of the BJP on Gairsain, the Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, Govind Singh Kunjwal, today said the Vijay Bahuguna government should without delay declare Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand.

So far the state government has refused to commit itself on the issue of declaring Gairsain as the summer capital. It has instead announced to construct a building the Vidhan Sabha and hold one session of the Assembly at Gairsain.

With Kunjwal now pitching for Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand, the Bahuguna government will have to clear its stand on the status of Dehradun as well as Gairsain. “We have already decided to construct a Vidhan Sabha bhawan at Garisain. The next logical step should be to declare Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand. This way we will be able to ensure balanced development in the hill districts of the state,” said Kunjwal.

Ever since the government made its intention on Gairsain public, several leaders in the Congress have been in a self-congratulatory mode for hitting the bull’s eye in the matter, without having to resolve the issue of the permanent capital.

However, with Kunjwal, a close associate of Union Cabinet Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat, obliquely presenting a road map for the government to pursue, it will be interesting to see how far Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is ready to commit himself to issue.

The BJP government had tabled the retired Justice B. Dikshit Commission report on the permanent capital in the House in 2008. However, not much had been heard on the issue since then.

But through a deft move the government announced to hold an Assembly session in Gairsain and the Congress managed to reignite the emotional issue. However, since then it had refrained from committing anything more on it.

Even Kunjwal seemed to be on the same page until his comments today, which are surely going to make the government agonise over the issue.

Just a few days ago, the Leader of the Opposition, Ajay Bhatt, had asked the Bahuguna government declare Gairsain as the summer capital. Now with Kunjwal lending his voice to the demand, the chorus is expected to grow louder.

Haridwar, January 5
Markets selling sweaters, jackets, shawls and coats are drawing a large number of people in Haridwar as intense cold conditions continue in the region.

Such is the rush of shoppers and the demand for woollens in the city that it may result in a shortage of readymade clothes if the severe cold conditions continue for a longer period than usual.

Blankets, pullovers, jackets, coats and ladies’ woollen suits are in much demand as are small items like caps, mufflers, stoles and woollen gloves.

“Earlier, people used to buy winter clothes at the end of the season when they could avail of heavy discounts. But this time the sale of woollens has been high even during this period due to intense cold conditions for the past fortnight,” said Rajat Ohri, owner of Cheap Store at Moti Bazaar market.

Rajat added they had ordered for and stocked clothes for a normal winter season taking into account the experience of the past few years. But now they may run out of stock soon and may have to order fresh woollen clothes.

Zakir Hussain, who makes handmade quilts, said, “We are working overtime to meet the increased demand of winter clothes due to intense cold conditions.”

Hussain said though the sale of blankets was usually high during the winter, traditional old quilts costing between Rs 400 and Rs 2,000 were in much demand these days.

“Quilts weighing 3 kg, 5 kg and 6 kg are more in demand and people prefer those made of Kashmiri and Jaipuri-Rajasthani cotton and fibre.

Shops selling thermals and other hosiery items are also witnessing a good rush while there has been a substantial rise in the sale of blowers and heaters.

Dehradun, January 5
Following in the footsteps of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who recently returned from a trip to South Africa, some more Cabinet ministers are waiting to fly to foreign shores in the coming months.

A majority of the Cabinet Ministers in the Bahuguna government have already travelled abroad and a few among them are raring to go on a second trip.

While Uttarakhand Minister for Transport had already been to Australia last year, he is again expected to fly to South Africa with a team of bureaucrats on January 9.

Similarly, Uttarakhand Minister for Agriculture Harak Singh Rawat, who had recently visited Japan, is expected to leave for Germany on February 13. The Uttarakhand Minister for Panchayat Raj Pritam Singh too will accompany Rawat.

It is likely that a senior BJP leader and MLA too may accompany the ministers.

The Uttarakhand Panchayat Raj Minister was part of the team that visited London during the 2012 Olympics.

Further in March, Uttarakhand Minister for Woman Empowerment and Child Development Amrita Rawat has also blocked dates for a tour to Germany. Last year, the minister had visited Tel Aviv and the middle-east.

Though the government is maintaining that most of the trips of the ministers are sponsored, it is not certain how these trips will benefit Uttarakhand in the long run.

"Former Chief Minister ND Tiwari had started the practice of sending his officers on foreign tours. At times, there was no justification for the numerous tours that the officers took. Now Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is doing the same, albeit sending his ministers on tours," said BJP chief BS Chuphal.

Interestingly, the foreign trips of the Cabinet Ministers have not whetted the appetite of Uttarakhand Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani, Uttarakhand Urban Development Minister Preetam Singh Panwar and Uttarakhand Minister for Labour and Employment HC Durgpal and Uttarakhand Revenue Minister Yashpal Arya, who in stark contrast to their colleagues have so far not undertaken any foreign tours and seem to be pre-occupied with the workload of their departments.

Mussoorie, January 5
In order to address problems of hill women suffering from anaemic disorders, the state government is planning to conduct health camps at the block level in the state this year.

Speaking to mediapersons today during his visit to the town, Health Minister Surendar Singh Negi said the state had received funds under the National Rural health Mission (NRHM) from the government at the Centre amounting to Rs 8 lakh per camp. He said these camps would be organised in two phases beginning mid January this year.

“The state government has prepared a detailed programme report under which the awareness on health-related matters will be created through these camps and different types surgeries will be performed using mobile clinics. Special attention will be given to hill women suffering from various anaemic disorders,” said Negi.

He further said patients suffering from grievous diseases would be referred to higher centres and treated free of cost.

He said the state government had also prepared a master plan for maternal care under which a drive would be conducted to ensure the well being of women requiring maternal care during delivery.

Speaking on the increasing in the user charges for the medical services being provided in the government hospitals, he said the previous government had decided to increase the user charges every year but his government changed that arrangement and decided to increase the user charges every two years. The government order in this regard would be issued very soon, said Negi.

Speaking on increasing the number of doctors, particularly in hill districts, Negi said the state government was making an effort to fill the vacancies at the earliest and the announcement of the Public Service Commission results was the first step in this direction. He said due to this, the state would get over 500 allopathic doctors, who would to send to those medical centres where doctors were not available. In addition to this, the government was also planning to use the service of ayurvedic doctors and send them to remote areas, but due to some technical issues, the project had been postponed for the moment.

He affirmed that once the matter was resolved in the forthcoming Cabinet meeting, the state would get the services of ayurvedic doctors without any hindrance. The Health Minister said the state government was also planning to take services of BDS doctors in the state. Apart from this, 400 doctors will be provided direct jobs in the state medical colleges.

Speaking on easing the financial assistance policy of providing funds to serious patients under ‘Vyadhi Nidhi Kosh’, the Health Minister said the procedure was cumbersome and difficult and the government was planning to ease the guidelines so that needy persons were able to receive the funds at the Chief Medial Superintendent level instead of waiting for an approval from the DG health office.

Negi also informed the media that the government was also planning to form a policy for the transfer of doctors as per the directions of the judiciary.

Negi, being critical of the UP Nirman Nigam, said due to callous attitude of the department, the construction of several health centres had been delayed and the other executive agency of the state was not functioning properly, therefore he had given the directions to speed up the construction process of the hospitals under construction.

Dehradun, Janaury 5
A protesting Shiksha Bandhu climbed up an overhead tank here today but was brought down by the police later. Meanwhile, the dharna of Shiksha Bandhus in support of their demand for the regularisation of their services at the School Education Directorate at Tapowan in Dehradun continued for the fourth day today.

The protesters said the Shiksha Bandhus, who had joined service before November 1, 2001, had already served for 10 years but their services were yet to be regularised.

They added there was large-scale resentment among the Shiksha Bandhus due to the delay in the regularisation of their services.

The dharna is being organised under the aegis of the Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh. The agitating Shiksha Bandhus are seeking immediate regularisation of their services as per the service rules 2011.

Mukesh Uniyal, KK Bijalwan, Deepesh Raturi, Sanjay Thapliyal and Vinod Maikhuri were among those who sat on dharna.

Dehradun, January 5
District Magistrate (DM), Dehradun, BVRC Purushottam yesterday directed the preparation of a new proposal for the delimitation of gram panchayats by January 9 so that it could be sent to the directorate by February 2.

The DM said the gram panchayats were reconstituted and delimited in 2002 and thereafter again 2007 on the basis of the population census of 2001 when many discrepancies came to light in the process later on.

Many villages owing to their complex topography or less population were merged with other gram panchayats both times.

This way many villages in hills that fulfilled the parameters of having a population of 300 residents and 1,000 residents in a village in the plains were not reorganised as gram panchayats.

He said it was important to remove this anomaly before holding the tri-partite elections in the district.

Dehradun, January 5
Amid reports of a sharp decrease in the number of people who speak the Raji dialect in Uttarakhand, Dr Shobha Ram Sharma is a ray of hope. An authority on the Raji dialect and the first PhD in the country in linguistics, Sharma is making efforts to sensitise society about the need to conserve this tribal dialect, which is now on the verge of extinction.

Born on July 6, 1933, in Pauri Garhwal district, Sharma had an illustrious career and had retired as the head of the Hindi Department of Government Postgraduate College, Bageshwar. A littérateur to the core, Sharma wrote his first novel “Dhumketu” way back in fifties. He spent long years in research and study and finally came up with a book, “Hutatma”, based on Garhwali freedom fighter Veer Chandra  Singh Garhwali.

Sharma spent a considerable time of his life in writing a number of Hindi vocabulary books. In 1999, he wrote “Krantidoot Che Guevara”, a booked based on the life history of Argentina’s revolutionary leader Che Guevara. His translation of Chinese novelist Chao li Po’s book “Hurricane” as “Jhanjhavat” in Hindi last year was one of his major achievements.

Sharma contends that the popularity of any language depends on the inclination of the community towards it and the dialect in which it is spoken, besides other factors like job opportunities. He says the dialects and the languages that fail to facilitate livelihood are forgotten.

Sharma says there is an urgent need to work towards safeguarding the Raji dialect before it is lost forever. He

admits that while job opportunities have come for the tribal communities due to the affirmative action of the Central government, these communities have moved away from their dialects. Stressing the importance of a linguistic survey in the country, he says the Linguistics Survey of India under the leadership of George Abraham, a British superintendent, conducted a survey of the country, including the Uttarakhand region. “But that was long back during the British days. Interestingly, that was the first and the last survey of Uttarakhand dialects,” he adds.

Sharma, however, hopes that the People’s Linguistic Survey at present under way in the country will help in presenting a true linguistic scenario.

On his works on the Raji community, Sharma says as trends indicate the Raji dialect could be lost forever. “The number of members of the Raji community has dwindled substantially over the years. Even among the existing minuscule population of the community, the popularity of Raji dialect is fast depleting. This is a matter of concern,” he adds.

The Raji community is a Scheduled Tribe in Uttarakhand and has a minuscule population of 517 according to the 2001 Census. This tribal community is settled in the border districts of Pitthoragarh and Champawat in the Kumaon region. The Raji dialect looks no more a preferred mode of communication even within the community.

Sharma is now looking forward to the outcome of the People’s Linguistic Survey, which is in the last phase. “Hopefully, the linguistic survey will present the latest linguistic scenario in the country and pave the way for policies and programmes to preserve languages and dialects that are fast being forgotten,” Sharma says. 

Dehradun, January 5
The Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) team defeated the Wonder Boys Cricket Club by 96 runs in a match in the 61st Dehradun District Cricket League at Col Browns’ School here today.

After winning the toss, the CAU team elected to bat first and scored 242 runs for five wickets in 30 overs.

Gurpreet remained unbeaten on 68 runs, while Anoop scored 65 runs. Opener Vaibhav scored 41 runs. Sanjay took two wickets for 28 runs.

The Wonder Boys team was all out for 146 runs, losing the match by 96 runs. Khadak was the top scorer with 43 runs to his credit.

Varnik took three wickets for 34 runs, while Nitin Chettri and Kushal took two wickets each.

Dehradun, January 5
CT Young will take on Balaji Boys in the final of the 7th Abhishek Dabral Memorial Football Tournament being played at the Survey Ground in Dehradun. CT Young beat Doon United 2-0 in the second semifinal match played today.

For CT Young, Rakesh scored both the goals. Rakesh scored the first goal in the 54th minute and the second in the 71st minute of the match. Doon United failed to open their account.