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Process under way to make Gairsain permanent capital, says Kunjwal
Agarwal denies involvement in Jaitley phone case
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CM refutes charge of increasing influence of land mafia
Plan to develop lesser known tourist sites
Reshuffle of IAS officers
State facing acute food storage crisis: Minister
Nurses give ultimatum to govt, threaten to launch stir
Border security forces to get solar power generators
Mask-making art taught at workshop
BJP trying to mislead people: Dhasmana
Diploma engineers threaten agitation
Nod for creation of registration panels
Kisan mela from March 8
Need to ease building norms, says minister
Power staff hails order on promotions
Man damages thermal camera
in Corbett
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Process under way to make Gairsain permanent capital, says Kunjwal
Pithoragarh, February 20 The Speaker was addressing a gathering at Dwarahat at the end of his two-day ‘aabhar’ rally (thanksgiving rally) today. He said he could initiate the process for making Gairsain the permanent capital of the state due to the blessing of the people he represents. “With your blessings, the process for making Gairsain the permanent capital of the state will be completed soon,” said Kunjwal. Before reaching Dwarahat the rally passed through Bageshwar, Someshwar, Garur and Kausani where Kunjwal thanked the people for supporting him on the issue. Besides the Speaker, Almora MP Pradeep Tamta and Rajya Sabha MP Mahendra Singh Mahra were also present at the rally at Bageshwar yesterday. “The rally covered six Assembly constituencies of the Almora parliamentary area, including Kunjwal’s Assembly seat,” said Prashant Bhainsora, administrator of Almora District Cooperative Bank and organiser of the rally. The speakers at the rally said it was ironical that even after 12 years of the formation of Uttarakhand the condition of the hill areas of the state had not improved as respective governments had not taken development of these areas on priority. “Time has come to accept our mistakes instead of hiding them,” said Kunjwal at the rally at
Dwarahat. |
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Agarwal denies involvement in Jaitley phone case
“I have never been in touch with Arvind Dabas nor has he ever approached me. These allegations that have cropped up in the media and television about my links are false,” said Agarwal, while speaking to mediapersons here today. He said he was an ordinary party worker and did not have access to senior leader Arun Jaitley as was being speculated by some sections in the media. Agarwal said he was forced to come clean on the issue after rumours of his arrest began to do the rounds. “For the entire day yesterday, there was speculation of my interrogation and even arrest, though I was in Delhi. I was forced to rush back home,” he said. A few days ago, a Delhi constable, Arvind Dabas, is said to have approached a telephone company for getting information on the telephone call details of BJP leader Arun Jaitley, after which the company had brought the matter before the intelligence agencies. While Dabas has now been arrested, it was speculated that he was also in touch with the BJP leaders residing in
Uttarakhand. |
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CM refutes charge of increasing influence of land mafia
CM Bahuguna, who was in Mussoorie to attend the condolence service of the brother of Cabinet Minister Dinesh Agarwal, said that the Leader of the Opposition was raking up the issue of increased influence of land mafia in the state unnecessarily. He further said that Ajay Bhatt was speaking without any facts only to gain political mileage from and nothing more. Bahuguna said that he would reply only when the Leader of the Opposition came out with concrete facts on the matter. Speaking on the development issue, the Chief Minister said that the work on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road will begin soon as the tender process had been completed. Speaking on the issue of local bodies’ election, the Chief Minister said that the election will be held in accordance with the laws and on schedule. The Chief Minister, who looked, worried left Mussoorie in haste after paying homage at the portrait of the brother of Cabinet Minister Dinesh Agarwal. |
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Plan to develop lesser known tourist sites
Dehradun, February 20 Some of these destinations are Baijnath, Bagheshwar, Sat Taal, Bhimtal, Chakori, Patal Bhuvneshwar, Pithoragarh, Someshwar, Roopkund, Chakrota, Asan Bairaj, Hanol, Dhanolti, Harsil and Dyara Bugyal. According to sources, the rest houses provided at these places would be run by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) or Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), which would provide accommodation and food to the tourists. Better infrastructure will also be created in terms of connecting roads, providing signs and parking spaces, toilets etc on the way. The project of development of lesser destinations was taken up because other popular destinations such as Mussoorie, Nainital and Rishikesh have already been exhausted to the hilt. In order to decongest these places and divert the tourist concentration, the department also intends to provide more options to the tourists and also tap the potential of these raw sites of breathtaking beauty and prospective spots of adventure tourism. Similar attempts were made by GMVN in the past as well, but these were not successful. The rest houses built by it at lesser known destinations are lying vacant most of the time and have become a liability to the corporation, as it has to incur the expenditure of their maintenance and pay the salaries of staff deputed there. The additional infrastructure was not laid down. Most importantly, the efforts required to make these destinations popular were not made. |
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Reshuffle of IAS officers
Dehradun, January 20 Earlier, Principal Secretary Vinita Kumar was holding the responsibility of Home. However, she will continue to remain Commissioner of Forests and Rural Development. Principal Secretary Om Prakash has been relieved of the responsibility of PS (Revenue and Disaster Management). In all, portfolios nine IAS officers and one officer in the Secretariat have been reshuffled, while DIG Deepam Seth has been brought to the Secretariat . Secretary, Bhaskaranand, Prisons, Servicemen's Welfare, has been relieved of the charge of Chief Director of Watershed project. He has been given additional charge of Revenue, Disaster Management and Rehabilitation. Secretary, Finance and Census,revenue, disaster management and additional chief, Revenue Commissioner, DS Garbyal, has been relieved of the charge of Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management. Additional Secretary, Urban Development, Director of Local Bodies, and Project Director ADB Radhika Jha, has been relieved of all the above charges and made Additional Secretary, Forests and Environment and Chief Project Director of Watershed . Additional Secretary, Information and Commissioner, Excise, Dilip Jawalkar, has been relieved of the charge of DG, Information, and given additional charge of Additional Secretary (Urban Development) and ADB. Additional Secretary (Sugarcane) Vinod Sharma has been made Additional Secretary, Information, and DG, Information. Additional Secretary, Irrigation, VK Dhaundiyal, has been given the charge of Additional Secretary, Labour, Director, Alternate Energy, Ashish Joshi, has been given additional charge of Additional Commissioner, Tax. Additional Secretary, Forests and Environment, Civil Aviation and Personnel, Ramesh C. Lohani, has been relieved of the charge of Additional Secretary, Forests and environment. Police DIG (CID) Deepam Seth has been made Additional Secretary, Home. |
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State facing acute food storage crisis: Minister
Mussoorie, February 20 Preetam Singh said the people of the hill region faced problem of food shortage, especially during the inclement weather, and the problem could be addressed only by increasing the food storage capacity in the state. He also said more godowns were needed for easy distribution of the ration in the difficult terrain of the state and the state government had put forth its demand to the Centre. Being critical of the previous BJP government, he said the ration quota was reduced by the Central Government during the BJP regime when the full quota was not lifted but the present government had streamlined the procedures leading to the increase in the quota. Preetam Singh speaking on the issue of black marketeering of ration and food shortage said he had not received any complaint so far and if any such case came to fore, immediate action would be taken against the perpetrators. He also informed the media that to stop the leakage of ration the storage centres at Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Hardwar would be computerised as per the directions of the Supreme Court. |
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Nurses give ultimatum to govt, threaten to launch stir
Dehradun, February 20 The demands of the nurses include the payment of the arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission from January 2008 onwards, filling of the post of Deputy Director (Nursing) that has been lying vacant since August, 2012, the appointment of nurses at Doon Hospital according to the norms prescribed by the Indian Nursing Council, conveyance allowance of Rs 500 per month, nurses serving in the government sector be designated as gazetted officers like chief pharmacists, and BSc (Nursing) degree holders be brought under the clinical stream to tide over the shortage of nurses. The other demands include the filling of the post of the Registrar, Uttarakhand, which is now occupied by an MBBS doctor, from the nursing cadre and the compulsory qualification of diploma in psychiatry for male nurses for applying for government jobs be dropped. “During our talks with the Uttarakhand Health Minister in May last year, we were promised that our conveyance allowance would be hiked from Rs 100 per month to Rs 500 per month, but to no avail,” said Anjana
Bhowmick. |
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Border security forces to get solar power generators
Pithoragarh, February 20 This was stated by Pithoragarh Chief Development Officer (CDO) Raghav Langhar here yesterday. “We will spend 10 per cent of the budget allocated under the project for securities forces,” said the CDO. He said the work of clearing the track routes and local rivulets in these high Himalayan regions would be given priority under the project for that could be beneficial for the security forces as well as for the local people. “We have asked the agencies to seek proposal of land from locals, the utility of work and its local necessity, as the projects will only be approved if the these points are met,” said the CDO. Langhar said Rs 15 crore given by government under this project had been divided among all four development blocks on the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Tibet border in the district. “While the Dharchula block has been allocated the highest budget of Rs 614.51 lakh, Kanalichina has been given Rs 214.66 lakh. The Munsiyari and Moonakot blocks have been allocated Rs 379.02 and 213.15 lakh, respectively, under the project,” said the CDO. |
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Mask-making art taught at workshop
Pithoragarh, February 20 “The workshop was organised under the preservation of the Himalayan folk culture programme of the Government of India,” said Hemraj Singh Bisht, head of the NGO Parvatiya Sanskritik and Sahityik Kala Samiti. According to the organiser, the participant artistes were taught to make masks for the folk festival which are prevalent in the district and techniques to stage the Hilljatra ballet show on the stage. “Artistes from the villages of Meldungari, Panda, Dhanaura, Balkaot Jakhpuran Bhatiyura and Kumaur took part in the workshop which concluded after the display of their show. Zila Panchayat, Pithoragarh vice-chairman, Virendra Singh Bohra gave the certificates to all 20 participants which was organised from February 2 to 20, Hemraj said. |
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BJP trying to mislead people: Dhasmana
Addressing a press conference in Dehradun yesterday, Suryakant Dhasmana said Opposition leader Ajay Bhatt was alleging that the Congress was trying to use the industrial land of the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand (SIDCUL) for other purposes. “This is a false charge, every place in SIDCUL is earmarked for a particular purpose and there is no question of change of purpose”, Dhasmana pointed out. Senior Congress leader Dhirendra Pratap mentioned the recent media reports that said Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi had rebuked Uttarakhand Congress Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna recently in Delhi over Bahuguna’s comment that Rahul should become the Prime Minister of the country. Pratap said every Congress man wanted to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister of the country and there was nothing wrong to air once opinion. He also asked the BJP to come out with a white paper on Arun Jaitley phone surveillance issue. He said the names of some Uttarakhand BJP leaders had surfaced in this matter. |
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Cong delegation meets MNA
Dehradun February 20 In the memorandum, the delegation members complained of non-functioning of streetlights, the menace of stray dogs, clogged drains and heaps of garbage across the city. A special reference was made with regard to dirty water flowing in Kishan Nagar and pending repair work on Panchayat Bhavan at Kolagarh. The MNA assured them of swift action on their demands. The delegation members included Arun Kumar, Ahmad, Devika Rani, Sachin Gupta and Mohan Joshi. |
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Diploma engineers threaten agitation
Dehradun, February 20 At the meeting of the regional working committee of Uttarakhand Diploma Engineers' Federation yesterday, regional president AK Chaturvedi said that the government was hell bent upon downsizing the department, which would directly affect the recruitment of assistant engineers and junior engineers. “Along with downsizing, the government has begun giving works to outside agencies. The recent case pertains to the work order given to the Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Nigam for constructing an auditorium in Haridwar. The estimate for the project was prepared by the Rishikesh unit of Pey Jal Nigam,” he said.
The employees have threatened to launch an agitation against the government’s move to disband Pey Jal Nigam. The engineers alleged that the Asian Development Bank had not paid the centage charge (charge fixed for undertaking works) in the works carried under phase II, while only 2.5 per cent centage was paid for carrying out works under phase I. |
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Nod for creation of registration panels
Dehradun, February 20 The state-level committee would comprise the Principal Secretary (Health) as Chairman, Director General (Health) as Secretary, Director (Ayurvedic & Unani Services) as member, Director ( Homoeopathy) as member and four nominated members from the Uttarakhand Ayurvigyan Parishad, the Uttarakhand State Dental Medical Association, the Uttarakhand State Nursing and Midwives Association and the Uttarakhand Beshaj Parishad. Three members from the Bharatiya Chikitsa Parishad who represent the alternative systems of medicines comprising ayurveda, siddha and Unani. One member each from the Indian Medical Association, state branch, and para medicine and two members from non-government organisations or the State Consumer Forum. The district-level committee would comprise the District Magistrate as member, the Chief Medical Officer as coordinator and three members to be nominated by the DM. |
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Kisan mela from March 8
Pithoragarh, February 20 The exhibition will showcase the latest methodology available for agriculture and vegetable production, besides making available to the farmers quality seeds for the coming kharif crop, a Pantnagar University press release said. It said besides various departments of the university, national firms working in the field of agriculture would exhibit their latest techniques and inventions for the visiting farmers during the mela. Nationalised banks and insurance companies would also depict the facilities they were giving to the farmers in form of agriculture credit and crop insurance, said YPS Dabas, Director of extension, Pantnagar University of Agriculture and Technology. |
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Need to ease building norms, says minister
Mussoorie, February 20 Agarwal said the department had not been able to curb the illegal construction activities in Mussoorie and an assessment was required to streamline the construction procedures so that the poor people did not feel neglected. He denied infighting among Congress workers for the top posts. Congress leaders Subodh Uniyal, Virendar Rawat and former MLA Mussoorie Jot Singh Gunsola also paid homage at the portrait of the brother of Cabinet Minister Dinesh Agarwal. |
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Power staff hails order on promotions
Dehradun February 20 President of the association JMS Rothan said the picture about the process would be clear when
the department concerned would take action in this regard. He added that the government must take cognizance of their other demands and issue government orders on these as well. He expected Managing Director of three corporations of the Power Department to take up these issues before the state government. |
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Man damages thermal camera
in Corbett
Dehradun, February 20 The thermal cameras were installed in the vulnerable southern boundary of the Corbett to keep an eye on poachers. But in December, one of the nine cameras installed was found damaged and the park authorities have been searching for the culprit since then. Acting on a tip-off, the Corbett authorities today managed to arrest Rasheed.
— TNS |
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Dehradun, February 20
Mussoorie, February 20
Dehradun, February 20