Prospects of new districts bleak
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 29
As the District Reorganisation Commission has decided to frame new norms for the creation of new districts, the prospects of the new districts announced by the erstwhile BJP government coming into existence now look bleak.

With sights on the 2012 Assembly election, former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in 2011 had announced the creation of Kotdwar, Raniketh, Didihaat and Yamnotri as the new districts.

The announcement made without notification or survey got buried in an avalanche of similar demands coming from different parts of the state.

The issue was pushed to the back-burner when there was a change of guard at the state and the issue has now been completely shelved with the new Congress government taking charge in 2012.

The Congress-led Bahuguna government had managed to do the balancing act by creating a District Reorganisation Commission to examine all the proposals. It was obvious that the districts announced by the BJP may not be able to pass the scrutiny of the new government.

"We had tried to examine the proposals based on the existing parameters handed down since the Uttar Pradesh days and found them impractical as the Uttarakhand state is now much smaller in size. These norms call for creating a district with a population of 15 lakh and containing at least three tehsils. These parameters are not feasible for Uttarakhand," said Subash Kumar, Chairman of Uttrakhand Revenue Board.

He said that for this reason a committee headed by Commissioner of Garhwal Kunal Sharma had been tasked to lay down parameters based on geographical, economic and other conditions for carving out new districts. "The committee would give it's report to the board in three months for further examination," said Subash Kumar.

Interestingly, in 1997, when Uttarakhand was still part of Uttar Pradesh, the districts of Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Champawat were created on the basis of parameters suitable for Uttar Pradesh. "In Uttarakhand the parameters would be different from Uttar Pradesh and we are awaiting the committee's recommendations. Once we set this right, we would be able to examine the demands based on the parameters. As it is we have been flooded with several demands that would be considered not on face value but merit," said Kumar.

Social media can help build stronger India: Ramdev
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 29
With technological advancements paving the way for more social interaction among people, yog guru Ramdev has called on social media experts and users to play a proactive and positive role in building a stronger India.

Ramdev said this at the first of its kind convention of people related to the social media at the Patanjali Yogpeeth, 16 km from Haridwar, today.

Ramdev urged the participants of the convention to disseminate information about his anti-black money campaign more effectively on the social media. He sought their cooperation in his fight against corruption in the country.

The yog guru referred to the effectiveness of the social media in society today and said the younger generation was now a major user of this interactive, informative and bonding media.

Though Ramdev expressed concern over the wrong use of the social media, he stressed the need for specific and self control measures in this regard.

Acharya Balakrishan, a close aide of Ramdev, emphasised on the need to connect rural people with the social media as it could fill the gap between the urban, semi urban and rural population.

The participants are also being given yoga training at the convention, which they are finding quite useful.

Meanwhile, Ramdev asked Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan to apologise to the people of India in view of his controversial statement given to an English publication that he being a member of the minority community felt insecure in India.

Ramdev said Shah Rukh should give a clarification to Pakistan about the safe, conducive and secular environment for the Muslims in India.

“Shah Rukh today is a mega star owing to love of Hindustanis not Pakistanis. He should have given the statement after considering the repercussion it could have on the millions of Muslims residing happily in India. A befitting reply is being awaited from the actor,” he said.

Cop shoots self in Raj Bhavan
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 29
Constable Kamal Mehra of 46th PAC Battalion shot himself in the head in the afternoon around 3.30 on the Raj Bhavan premises. He succumbed to his injuries after he was admitted to Doon Hospital. Mehra was transferred to Dehradun on December 4 and was assigned the task to guard tower-2 at Raj Bhavan. This 35-year-old youngster was to get married next month at his home town, Ramnagar.

Soon after taking charge of his duty for the day, Mehra fired two shots, one in the air and another on the right side of his head. His companion came rushing to the spot and called 108 ambulance. Mehra was breathing on the way and died after being taken to Doon Hospital.

Mehra, who joined police force in year 2006, was suspended for drinking during his duty hours at the High Court, Nainital, in September last year, before he was transferred to Dehradun. DIG, Sanjay Gunjiyal, said: “The victim carried some explanation letters addressed to police officers in response to an inquiry going on regarding his suspension but he did not submit any of those letters. I also talked to the Platoon Commander, who informed that Mehra talked to him normally in the morning and did not exhibit any particular signs, indicating towards his preparedness for suicide. He was emotional by nature.” Complaints were reported against the constable for coming drunk at his duty place at Dehradun. Mehra was also known to be keeping to himself. His companions were not knowing much about him as he was also quite new to the town. However, they said there was nothing abnormal about him in the day.

It is only after family members of the deceased come from Ramnagar late at night or early morning tomorrow that some light could be thrown on the reasons for his act.

Confusion over plying of special autos for women
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 29
The women's special, Vikram (shared auto), started by the city police has begun facing problems in the beginning itself. Within the first week of it's launch, Vikram, operating on the Majra-ISBT route, has closed down it's services. The owners blamed the traffic police for not giving them the promised dues. The operators of other two routes are not happy either, and have expressed their grievances.

It must be mentioned here that SSP Kewal Khurana had launched this service whereby two Vikrams were to pick up only women commuters for three routes each, Dharampur, Rajpur and Majra on a daily basis.

President of the Majra Vikram Union, Hariom Chaudhary, said, “Since the two Vikrams, assigned for women's special services for the day, were to pick only women commuters, the drivers had to wait for a long time for the commuters. Hence, they lost revenue in comparison to other Vikrams. Traffic Inspector Virender Singh Rawat, who is in-charge of this service, promised me Rs 400 on a daily basis. But he never paid anything. I was sent from one counter to another. Lastly, I had to discontinue the women's special service.”

He also accused police personnel of forcibly turning out other women passengers from Vikrams to accommodate women police personnel.

President of Dehradun Vikrams Association Satish Sharma said there was a lot of confusion regarding compensation to the Vikram owners, as some were assured of compensation, with amount differing in each case, while some were not. There was not one single officer whom they could meet for the purpose.

Confusion also prevailed with regard to Vikrams assigned for this service. President of Dharampur Vikrams' Association Akhtar said the timing for women's special Vikrams were fixed from 9 in the morning till 5 in the evening. After that Vikrams were free to pick up mixed gender commuters. Not operating such Vikrams after 5 in the evening did not make sense as women needed more protection at night time. It seems that the facility was started in a hurry where no regular follow-up action was done to check the problems now cropping up. No effort was made either to restart the Vikram service for the Majra-ISBT route as well. Inspector in charge Virender Singh Rawat did not answer any of the several mobile calls made to him to take his version on the matter.

MDDA demolishes 4 cottages, restaurant
Our Correspondent

Mussoorie, January 29
The local administration in association with the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), acting on the directions of the High Court, Nainital, put it's act together and demolished illegal structures that included four cottages and one restaurant at Bhatta village on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road today.

The MDDA officials demolished four cottages along with a restaurant that was constructed illegally.

The whole drive continued for at least 2 hours. The walls of the room and roof were demolished completely in the presence of policemen.

The Supreme Court monitoring committee had also raised the issue of illegal constructions at the resort and had taken a strict view of the non-compliance of it's recommendations to demolish the area constructed illegally, sources from the MDDA said.

Assistant Engineer, MDDA, Shyam Mohan Sharma, informed the media that one Ranveer Jolly from Dehradun was the owner of the illegal construction being carried out here without the permission of the authorities concerned, and the demolition exercise had been carried out at the direction of the High Court.

He said that the law will takes its own course and no illegal construction will be tolerated in the town, and action will be initiated without considering the status of the perpetrators.

UPA govt anti-poor, says Tapan Sen
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 29
Rajya Sabha MP Tapan Sen today lashed out at the United Progressive Alliance government for failing to cater to the poor and labour class, owing to its pro-capitalist economic policies.

Addressing an inaugural session of the two-day 5th State-Level Convention of Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) here today in Haridwar, Tapan Sen criticised the economic policies of the present UPA government, terming it as ‘failed economic policy’.

Warning that if similar anti-poor policies continued, including steps like foreign direct investment in multiple sectors and hike in petro prices, Sen said the democratic setup of India had been in danger.

“The country is facing a grievous economic crisis as rich is becoming richer while the poor are becoming poorer. Inflation, black marketing of essential commodities and foodgrains are costing affecting the poor and labour class, while the government is boasting of FDI, which will further ruin the Class IV employees" asserted Sen.

On the local front, Tapan Sen lamented that despite seven years of formation of the Integrated Industrial Estate, SIDCUL, at three cities of Haridwar, Dehradun, Rudrapur, no structure of labour unions has evolved majorly which is a worrisome aspect.

“SIDCUL industrialists, corporate honchos in nexus with ministers and administrative officers curb any protest inside factories in Uttarakhand, which is why gross violation of labour laws, harassment, exploitation and non-adherence of the minimum wage is being done here", added Sen.

Central general secretary CITU Dr Kashmir Singh emphasised on the need of uniting various trade unions under one banner to effectively push for safeguard of rights of labourers.

Rural job scheme yields poor results in state
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 29
Due to the poor implementation of the poverty elevation scheme of the UPA government, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has come unstuck in Uttarakhand.

Since 2008, only 39 days of employment have been provided to the job card holders in gross violation of 100 days of employment as promised under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

In clear violation of the Act, the Uttarakhand Department of Rural Development has also failed to pay compensation to the job seekers registered under the rural employment schme.

According to a state record, only 2-4 per cent of the total registered households were provided 100 days of employment during 2008-2012.

The average person’s days per rural household for which employment was provided per registered household per year was 39 days in the state and in the districts and the blocks, it varied between 32 and 35 days per person.

The performance of Uttarakhand could rival with some of the poor performing states, including West Bengal and Bihar where the number of days of employment averages has been very less.

The excuse given by the department was that as the beneficiaries were not aware that as the scheme was demand driven, employment was to be provided within 15 days.

Further in event of any delay in wage payments, the workers were entitled to compensation according to the provision for the payment of Wages Act 1936 to be borne by the state government.

According to a source, while there was an average delay of more than 65 days in payment to the beneficiaries, so far no compensation has been made.

The department officials maintain that no claim for compensation has been received.

As MGNREGA was a need-based scheme, it could be the case that both employment and wages in excess of Rs 100 a day were available curtailing the need for the programme.

But evidence on the ground did not suggest that this was the situation as employment was often seasonal and Uttarakhand had been battling with natural disasters where the MGNREGS could have helped in reducing the impact of disaster.

Number of panchayats goes up in Pithorgarh
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 29
A total number of gram panchayats in the district has increased to 676 from 669 after the formation of seven more gram panchayats in the recent reorganisation of the panchayats, according to a press note by the district administration.

“In fact, 15 more gram panchayats have been formed after the new reorganisation of panchayat bodies in the district this year, out of these seven have been merged with Nagar Panchayat, Gangolihat, and one with gram panchayat Timta.

According to the note, the reorganisation process was done according to the Census of 2001 in which the total number of gram panchayats in the district were 15 to increased.

The number of gram panchayats increased blockwise was four each in Pithoragarh and Dharchula blocks two each in Kanalchina and Gangolihat and one each in Munsiyari and Didihat blocks, said CMS Bisht, District Magistrate, Pithoragarh.

Delay in work on projects resented
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 29
Pithoragarh residents have expressed resentment over the delay in the construction of various projects, including roads and drinking water schemes.

Residents of Bhainkot village, Munsiyari subdivision, said the government had approved the construction of a 8-km road from Bhaiskot to Bajeta in 2005, but only a stretch of 700 had been constructed so far.

PWD officials said tenders for the construction of the road had been floated again this time and contractors had completed a stretch of 1 km so far.

Meanwhile, Gangolihat residents today gheraoed the Jal Nigam Executive Engineer in protest against the delay in the construction of a lift drinking water scheme in the town.

They pacified only after the Jal Nigam Executive Engineer gave them an assurance that the construction process would begin before February 15.

Lokayukta presents annual report
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 29
Uttarakhand Lokayukta Justice MM Ghildiyal (retd) presented the annual report for the year 2012 to Governor Dr Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhavan here today.

The report includes pending appeals and various directions and suggestions given by the Lokayukta to officials related to many matters.

Justice Ghildiyal said in 2012, 767 complaints had been received out of which 744 had been resolved. Thirtyone cases have been referred to the government as they involved complaints against officials /staff.

Solar activism last year was lowest in 55 years: Scientist
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 29
Solar activism in 2012 has remained far less than that in earlier years causing unprecedented cold conditions and snowfall on the earth. Even if compared with the last five sun cycles of 55 years, solar activism was the least in 2012, said N Gopalswami, a NASA scientist who is the principal investigator of an Indo-US project on solar eruption phenomena. Swami said this while talking to scientists at the Aryabhatt Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIS) in Nainital today.

“The sun and the earth are highly correlated. Every action on the sun has its affect on the earth. The changes in sun spots, solar flayers, coronal mass rejection and geo magnetic storm activities, which occur on the surface of the sun, severely affect satellite services and the functioning of electronic equipment and aviation services on the earth,” said Gopalswami.

“Every solar cycle contains 11 years in its ambit. The 24th solar cycle at present is running in its last phase. Though we expect some rise in solar activism in the last part of this year, till date the solar cycle has remained least active compared to the last five cycles,” he said.

Winter clothes distributed among students
Tribune News Service

Usha Bahuguna, president of the FRI Ladies Club, gives warm clothes to a student of New Forest Primary School on the FRI premises in Dehradun on Tuesday.

Dehradun, January 29
Usha Bahuguna, patron of the Ladies Club of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), distributed winter clothes among students of New Forest Primary School on the FRI campus here today. The school provides education to the children of poor families.

In her brief address, Usha stressed on helping the disadvantaged sections of society. She said the Ladies Club of the FRI was committed to helping the poor people. Director General, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE ), Dr VK Bahuguna announced that the ICFRE would adopt the school for renovation. He said its standard of education would also be improved.

FRI Director Dr PP Bhojvaid, scientists and members of the club were present on the occasion.

The club is running a souvenir shop “Prerna” on the FRI campus and the profits from its operations are used to distribute warm clothes among the children.

2 Navodaya students hang themselves
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 29
Two suicides by students of Navodaya Vidyalayas came to light at Tehri and Chamoli districts in the past three days.

The Tehri District Magistrate has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the suicide of a class IX girl student at Navodaya Vidyalaya in the district.

The girl committed suicide by hanging in the hostel of the school two days ago. The family members of the deceased girl student had alleged that it was a murder case. However, the police authorities claimed that a suicide note found from the deceased said she was unhappy with the students of the school.

In another case , a male student of class XI of Navodaya Vidyalaya at Chamoli also committed suicide by hanging himself in the school bathroom. A suicide note found in his possession stated that he had committed suicide due to being weak in studies.