Bahuguna dares BJP over land scam
Congress to burn effigies of opposition party today
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 17
To counter the tirade of the BJP, which has stalled the proceedings of the state Assembly against the alleged irregularities in the sale of industrial lands at the Haridwar and Pantanagar industrial estates, the ruling Congress has decided to burn effigies of the BJP at all districts and block headquarters on March 18 as part of ‘Save Democracy’ campaign.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has challenged the Opposition BJP to prove any wrongdoing in the sale of land in the industrial estates in SIDCUL, Haridwar and Pantnagar.

The BJP stalled the proceedings of the Uttarakhand Assembly on the first two days of the budget session alleging large scale irregularities in the sale of industrial land. The BJP has charged that the land was sold at much lower prices to benefit a few favourite private builders by the state government.

Replying to the charges, Bahuguna said the entire sale process was done in a transparent manner where tenders were invited in open bidding by giving advertisements in national newspapers. He said the highest bidder in the auction was allotted the land for infrastructural development in these two industrial estates of SIDCUL.

While talking to mediapersons here today, he said, “If the BJP brings in a bidder who is willing to pay even Rs 400 crore for these lands, our government would scarp the deal and allot it to them.”

Meanwhile, state Congress chief Yashpal Arya also came to the defense of the state government. Addressing mediapersons, he there was no irregularity in the land deals of industrial estates and everything was done in a transparent manner.

“If anyone has any evidence of wrongdoing, they can approach the courts as was done during the rule of the previous BJP government. The wrongdoings of the BJP government in Citurgia and allocation of small hydropower projects were challenged in the Nainital High court and the state government, fearing a negative verdict, cancelled these deals,” he retorted.

He also challenged that if the BJP had any bidder willing to pay Rs 400 crore, the state government would scarp the deal and allot the work to them.

Arya said the BJP, fearing the tabling of findings of the Bhatti panel report on the table of the house looking into the alleged misdeeds of the previous BJP state government, has resorted to falsehood on the issue. “We are ready to discuss everything about the deals in the House but the BJP is not ready,” he charged.

He that as part of the ‘Save Democracy’ programme, Congress workers would burn effigies of the BJP at block and district headquaters on March 18.

organisational elections
Youth Congress launches membership campaign
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 17
After a gap of two years, preparations have started for organisational elections in the Youth Congress. Addressing a press conference here today, Election Commissioner of the All-India Youth Congress Deepak Rathore said a country-wide membership campaign of the party had been launched today which was precursor to the forthcoming Youth Congress organisational election.

He said youths in the age group of 18 to 35 years would be made members of the Youth Congress. He said the voters’ list would be out after April 13 and would be made available online.

He said while membership charges for the youths belonging to the general category had been kept at Rs 15, for SC/ST and women it was Rs 5.

Rathore said the Youth Congress had enrolled 1 crore 6 lakh members across the country in the membership campaign last year, which included 1 lakh 41 thousand members from Uttarakhand.

He said the members enrolled last year could renew their membership without paying any charges.

He said in Uttarakhand, 10 returning officers wou;d be deployed for the smooth conduct of the membership campaign. In charge of the State Youth Congress Harhvardhan was also present on the occasion.

Hemwati Bahuguna remembered
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 17
On the 24th death anniversary of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna today, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna paid tributes to the leader's statue at the Clock Tower complex. He said Hemwati Bahuguna would always be remembered for the work he did for farmers, labourers, dalits and minorities.

“The greatest tribute we can pay him is following the path shown to us by him,” he said.

The Chief Minister said one should rise above pettiness to have a wider vision for a better society. Cabinet minister Yashpal Arya, MLAs Vijaypal Singh Sajwan, Raj Kumar, Umesh Sharma and Municipal Corporation’s leader of opposition Ashok Verma were among those present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a function in this regard was also held by the Devbhoomi Manav Sansadhan Trust. Suryakant Dhasmana, chairman of the organisation and vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress Committee, paid rich tributes to Hemwati Bahuguna and recalled his association with him as a student leader. He said Hemwati was a multi-faceted personality, who excelled as a Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and also as an Opposition leader. He said his contribution to society, particularly towards the welfare of the downtrodden, would always be remembered.

Minister lays stress on women education, empowerment
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, March 17
State Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi said today that a literate woman had the ability to literate whole family. Negi was speaking as the chief guest on the fifth day of an NSS camp at Shravan Nath Jawaharlal Nehru College, which is being organised at Shantikunj.

He laid stress on women empowerment and education. He cited examples of Mother Teresa, Sunita Williams, Indira Gandhi, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and Sonia Gandhi among other prominent personalities.

Negi also appreciated Kanika Kukreti of Uttarakhand, who recently stood 7th in the Combined Defence Services examination, and said she was an ideal example of how women were making it big in every field.

“Women are now making a mark in every field and education is a prime tool to make them realise their dreams and abilities. Uttarakhand, too, has been producing women achievers even when the hill state poses many problems for women,” said Negi.

Programme officer Sushma Nayal read out the activities being done by the NSS students for the past five days. “The students have been visiting nearby villages and generating awareness about literacy, cleanliness, HIV/AIDS, voting, Right to Information and social welfare schemes,” said Nayal.

Principal of the SMJN Sunil Kumar Batra appreciated the spiritual environment of Shantikunj and thanked Dr Pranav Pandya, head of the Akhil Bharatiya Gayatri Parivar, for his cooperation in the smooth conduct of the camp.

Negi also paid a visit to ‘Akhand Jot’ on the Shantikunj premise, which has been burning since 1926.

Meanwhile, at BSM PG College, passing-out students were given farewell by their juniors here today.

Students presented Bharatnatyam and Punjabi, Garhwali, Kumaoni and Gujarati dances.

College Principal Vipin Pratap Gautam emphasised the need of cordial bonding between teachers and students.

A Bharatnatyam performance by Pratibha and a Punjabi dance by Shruti Gautam received standing ovation from the audience.

Keerti Rana, Parul, Vidhya Rawat, Nishu, Neha, Ritu, Neelam, Shaili, Shaiba, Neha Dhiman, Ayushi and Visakha also gave performances on the occasion.

Cong using Bhati panel for political benefits: Kaushik
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, March 17
Former Uttarakhand Urban Development Minister and Haridwar city legislator Madan Kaushik has accused the Congress state government of falsely implicating BJP leaders for various irregularities in the Terai Seed Development Corporation.

Speaking at a party convention here today in Ranipur, Madan Kaushik said to hide the ill-governance of the one-year tenure of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna led government, the Congress is misusing the Bhati Commission.

"This is a serious issue as it was announced that FIRs would be registered first and then the Bhati Commission report be tabled in the Assembly. This itself points to a nexus between the Congress government and the commission, who are trying to use the report to their political advantage only", said Kaushik.

On the Congress raising Mahakumbh scam, the Citguria-Rishikesh scam and the cancellation of 36 hydropower projects during the regime of BJP chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank,Kaushik labelled all these charges as baseless.

"The Congress doesn't seem to be interested in development of the state, which is indicated by their one-year rule which was marred by infighting and factionalism for the CM post and red beacons. On the other hand, we brought the tough Lokayukta Bill, the land ceiling Act and ushered in various development schemes such as 108 ambulance, Atal Khadyan Yojana, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali tourism project and others, which are benefiting the people of the state," he said.

Urging party activists to start working for the three-tier panchayat and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the legislator warned party leaders of complacency and factionalism.

"These two aspects (complacency and factionalism) are more worrisome than the Congress. We need to work at the grassroot level as public is perturbed by corruption and inflation, which was not the case when the BJP was at the Centre during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led Union government," said Kaushik.

 Panel to set up eco-sensitive zones
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 17
The Uttarakhand Government has decided to constitute a core committee for setting up eco-sensitive zones in the state. The decision was taken during a meeting of the state Wildlife Board which was chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

Officials in the meeting laid stress on maintaining a balance between conservation and development.

It was decided that cases pertaining to transfer of forest land for non-forest purposes must be redressed at the earliest.

A total of 36 forest land transfer cases were taken up for deliberations. Most of these cases were approved at the meeting.

The next meeting of the state Wildlife Board will be held on May 15.

State Forest Development Corporation chairman Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, Forest and Environment Parliamentary Secretary Hemesh Karkwal and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat were among those who attended the Wildlife Board meeting.

 UTU, Sports College win 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 17
The Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) cricket team and Sports College cricket team won their respective matches in the 61st Dehradun District Cricket League being played at Survey Stadium here today.

In the first match, the Sports College team defeated Sum Institute by 167 runs.

Batting first, Sports team scored 267 runs for seven wickets in 30 overs. Ankit Chaudhary scored 80 runs while Kailash scored 40 runs. Sanjay took two wickets for 60 runs. In reply, the Sum Institute team was all out for 100 runs, losing the match by 167 runs. Opener Arvind was the top scorer with 42 runs. Kailash took five wickets for 23 runs.

In the second match, the Uttarakhand Technical University team defeated the Vidhan Sabha team by 18 runs. Batting first, the UTU team scored 161 runs for eight wickets in 30 overs. Rishab scored 63 runs while Pyggoosh scored 41 runs. Ravindra took three wickets for 20 runs. In reply, the Vidhan sabha team was all out for 143 runs in 25.3 overs.

dehradun Diary
Will commission nail culprits of seed corp scam?

THE politics of Uttarakhand has come full circle with the Opposition stalling the proceedings of the first two days of the budget session of the Assembly on the issue of alleged irregularities in the sale of industrial land at Haridwar and Sitarganj industrial estates by the state government.

The politics of allegations and counter-allegations by the ruling as well as the Opposition parties has dominated the political discourse in the past 12 years since the formation of the state in 2000. Despite allegations of corruption and scandals by the Opposition against the ruling dispensations and formation of panels to probe such allegations, nothing has come out or any guilty person charged.

Both Congress as well as BJP, the two dominant political parties, have used these allegations for political benefits and to discredit those in power.

Interestingly, while these two political parties are taking turns in sharing power since the formation of the state, the common people, particularly those living in the far-flung areas, are suffering due to acute incompetence and non-governance of the administration.

The interim BJP government that came into being after the formation of the state in November 2000 also found itself embroiled in controversy and there were allegations of swindling of funds in the name of infrastructure development in the interim capital of Dehradun.

An inquiry was ordered after the Congress government led by veteran ND Tewari came to power after the first-ever Assembly elections held in February 2002.

During the Congress regime from 2002 to 2007, the opposition BJP came up with a list of 56 scandals and ran the election campaign of the 2007 Assembly elections on the issue.

After BJP came to power in the Assembly poll and Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) took over as the Chief Minister, the BJP government appointed an inquiry commission led by Justice RA Sharma (retd) to probe these allegations. However, after the repeated extensions to the commission, nothing much came out of the findings of the panel.

Similarly, the Congress levelled charges against the BJP government that ran the state from 2007 to 2012. It was in their election manifesto for the Assembly poll of January 2012 that they would probe these allegations of omissions and commissions against the BJP government. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna appointed a senior retired bureaucrat Bhati to probe these allegations.

Now a stage has reached when the opposition BJP is charging the state Congress government with irregularities in the sale of industrial land to private builders. On the other hand, the Congress government has planned to table the first report of the Bhati panel regarding irregularities in the Terai Seed Corporation found during the previous BJP regime on the table of the state Assembly.

There is also a move to lodge FIR against certain BJP leaders who were at the helm of affairs of the corporation. This has led to consternation within the BJP circles.

It will be seen whether the state Congress has been sincere in prosecuting the wrong doers or it is another ploy to bargain with the opposition leaders to buy peace.

SMA Kazmi