BJP sweeps away Congress in the civic body elections
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Holding on to the success achieved in the Tehri parliamentary byelection last year, the saffron party in Uttarakhand once again delved a body blow to the Congress Party by emerging victorious in several places in the civic body polls, the results of which were announced today.

The BJP today won the prestigious Dehradun, Haldwani and Haridwar mayoral seats and also was ahead of it’s rival in the 28 nagar palikas and 35 nagar panchayats.

The BJP Tsunami swept away the Congress in both the Kumaoni and Garhwal regions, and with it’s confidence restored, the party is looking forward to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In all the BJP managed to win 17 mayoral and chairman seats (total seats 69) and it’s councillors posted wins in 125 wards out of a total of 469 wards, whose elections were announced today. In all the elections were held for 690 seats (for ward members) and 69 civic bodies in the state. The BJP had fought the elections on 66 civic bodies in the state.

If the Congress state in charge Yashpal Arya and Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna did little less than compliment each other with their laid back style, in sharp contrast the Uttarakhand BJP was ready to strike under the leadership of it’s newly elected state chief Teerath Singh Rawat and host of senior leaders who decided to keep their differences in abeyance to work for the victory of the party.

“What clicked for us was a united effort put up by the party workers who went from house to house galvanising people. Beside the Congress government’s one-year rule has been marred by corruption and poor governance. The interest of the state and it’s people were sacrificed at the altar of illegal sale of land and corporate interest. The Congress government under Vijay Bahuguna took one bad decision after another. It even reversed several good decisions taken by the previous Khanduri government. This greatly disturbed and angered the people,” said Teerath Singh Rawat.

While the Congress approach to the elections was amateurish, the BJP managed to do thorough homework in the distribution of tickets and did not fail to expel the party leaders who stood against the official candidates. “We faced a problem of plenty.

There were several candidates clamouring for the party ticket. In fact the Independent candidate Yashpal Rana, who won the Roorkee Mayor seat, was also eyeing the party seat but on being refused, he stood as an Independent candidate,” said Rawat.

Interestingly so complete has been the sway of the BJP in these elections that it’s candidates emerged victorious with large margins of victory. In the Dehradun mayoral seat, BJP’s Vinod Chamoli got elected for the second time by defeating the Congress candidate by a margin of 22,912 votes. In Haldwani, where the elections for the post of Mayor were held for the first time, Jogender Rautela won by over 1409 votes by defeating the Samajvadi candidate Matin Sadik.

In Haridwar the BJP candidate Manoj Garg won by 17,147 votes.

So complete was the sway of the BJP that the Congress party lost heavily in the area of influence of the party bigwigs, comprising Cabinet Minister Indira Hriyadesh, Union Minister Harish Rawat, Congress chief and Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya and Cabinet Minister Harak Singh Rawat as none of the Congress candidates could win the mayoral or the chairman seat.

“In the 2012 elections, the Congress was one seat ahead of the BJP but it managed to clobber up support and went ahead to form the government in the state. We were outnumbered but not beaten and managed to rattle the Congress in the Tehri parliamentary election. But the Congress did not learn any lessons; it continued to be in a deep slumber,” said Harbans Kapoor, BJP MLA and senior leader. 

Party position

BJP wins prestigious Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar mayoral seats

Way ahead in 28 nagar palikas, 35 nagar panchayats

Also batters Congress in Kumaon and Garhwal regions

BJP gives a drubbing to Congress in DMC poll
In 60 wards, the party has registered victory in over 33 wards 
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun April 30
The BJP gave a strong drubbing to Congress in the election for Dehradun Municipal Corporation, the results of which were announced today.

In the 60 wards, the BJP registered a win in over 33 wards whereas Congress won 23 seats. The BSP got only two and Independents too had to be satisfied with mere two seats. In the last DMC election, BJP had got 28 seats, Congress 24, Independents 6, BSP one and UKD one. In comparison, BJP had improved it's tally by getting 5 more seats, whereas Congress lagged with the loss of one seat. Independents could not gain much out of this election this year, which remained triangular contest among the BJP, the Congress and the BSP.

The election began swinging in favour of BJP since morning itself where Vinod Chamoli continued to score an edge over Suryakant Dhasmana in the mayoral election.

Similarly, the BJP also kept winning in more wards than Congress. The results of wards got summed up around 1 whereas that of Mayor were declared around 3.

The winning candidates were garlanded by their supporters who after leaving the counting area, Bannu School in Race Course, danced to the beats of dhols, burst crackers and rubbed colours on each other.

Beaming Vinod Chamoli, who was accompanied by BJP Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi , his wife and supporters after his win said: “My party men and leaders gave me all the support in this election. Moreover, the development work worth Rs 40 crore done by me was seen by the public, which gave me their full mandate. The win in this election will help me deliver better.” He said from day one, he had pronounced that this election was between him and Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

“Vijay Bahuguna, who was fearing defeat in this election, tried to put it off first by making an attempt to defer it in the High Court and then by flouting the model code of conduct by announcing developmental schemes during campaigning. What happened just a day before outside the strong room was another manifestation of Bahuguna’s panic. Despite all the wrongful tactics used by him, he could not contain the rage in the public against Congress, be it in state or nation as a whole.” He thanked the public for giving him the mandate for the fourth time . He won as a councillor, nagar palika, Dehradun, 1988, then chairperson of nagar palika, Dehradun, in 1997 and Mayor, DMC, in 2008.

Suryakant Dhasmana accepted his defeat with a lot of dignity. He held BSP more responsible for eating into Congress vote bank, which resulted in his defeat. He said: “The vote bank of Congress comprising poor and downtrodden had been weaned away by BSP. Had we got the votes, which went in favour of BSP, Congress would have swept the election.” He, however, said that he got around 58,000, which was a good number in view of the anti-campaign and even personal attacks made by his opponents on him. He said that he accepted the public mandate wholeheartedly and would continue to work for people as a party worker. The issues which he raised such as civic amenities, he would continue to raise. While congratulating Chamoli, he said he would give him all support for good work and take him to task for any wrong move.

When asked about the intra-party rivalry where his photos were not included in the posters and big leaders did not go for his campaign in some pockets, he said: “There is no point in explaining what is evident. This issue would be discussed at the party forum.”

Rajni Rawat, too, accepted the public mandate positively. She refrained from accepting Dhasmana’s version about BSP slicing away Congress vote bank by saying:'' Dhasmana is wrong in saying so. I got approximately around these many votes in the last election. This shows I did not break into Congress bastion.'' She did not mince words in lambasting BSP leaders by openly declaring ''I did not get any benefit of joining BSP. I got votes from my vote bank. Had BSP leaders campaigned in my favour, my tally would have been much higher.”

She said, she would talk about the matter to party supremo Mayawati.

24 women become councillors 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
In the results declared in over 60 wards of Dehradun Municipal Corporation, quite interestingly, 24 women became councillors, many bigwigs faced disappointment, several won the seat in succession, some swiped seats in place of their spouses and enjoyed the victory and many newcomers tasted success for the first time.

Those among women who registered victory, 19 came from BJP , two from Congress, one from BSP and two Independent. Those who won included from ward number 1, Rajpur, Roshan Bala, from BJP, Daya Joshi from ward 3 Jakhan Daya from BJP, Saroj Panwar from BJP in ward 5 in Arya Nagar, Nandini Sharma from BJP from ward 8 in Kishan Nagar, ward 10, Rispana, Rani Kaur, from BJP, whose husband Jeevan was councillor in the last election from the same seat, Usha Devi from BSP, ward 9, DL Road, Charanjit Kaur from BJP whose husband Santokh Singh won it last time from Kalika Mandir, Savita Oberoi from BJP, Tilak Road, Tripta Devi from BJP, Indira Nagar, Beena Aggarwal from BSP, Dalanwala again, Kamli Bhatt from BJP retained her seat, Bhagat Singh Colony, Varsha Badoni from BJP,Rajiv Nagar, Varsha Badoni, BJP.

Newcomer and women councillor Savita Oberoi said she had been a social worker throughout and this was the reason that people supported him in this election. She reiterated her resolution to serve people as councillor. Zahida Praveen said that she was happy that people of Reetha Mandi rejected candidates of big parties and reposed their faith in her. She would make efforts to maintain that confidence. Ajay Singhal of Congress was among those lucky candidates who made a hat-trick by winning the seat for the third time.

He said he was always hopeful of winning this seat and would now complete the projects left in previous term. Ramesh Butola of Congress who also won Dobhalwala, ward 6 for the third time also echoed the same views.

There were those who registered victories on those seats which earlier were won by their spouses. Bhupender Singh Kathiat of BJP won the seat of ward 4, won by his wife Sangeeta Kathiat last time.

Similarly, Umender Singh Bhati of BJP ward 48 won Indira Puram seat won by his wife Usha Bhati.

Among the prominent persons who lost was Rajender Rawat of BJP from ward number 32. On the polling day, he had clashes with Congress members and sustained serious injury in the process. Deepa Shah of BJP from ward 13 , Chukuwala was saddened by the victory. This laborious worker had a massive paralysis attack last year because of which she could not attend to her ward. Sanjay Gupta, who fought as Indendepent from Turner Road after Congress refused a ticket also lost. 

Results unexpected, says Maharaj
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj has said the results of the Uttarakhand civic bodies’ election are not as per the expectation of the party.

In a statement issued today, Maharaj said the state government had done several development works but the people were not apprised of these properly.

He, however, thanked party workers for dedicated canvassing for the candidates during the polls.

He said issues like the rise in LPG price and eco-sensitive zone were among the factors that led to the party debacle in the polls.

Maharaj said the party would now think over the reasons responsible for the poll defeat.

He appealed to the party workers to continue working hard to ensuring the Congress victory in future elections. 

Poor performance, infighting led to Congress debacle 
Selection of candidates, conduct of poll left much to be desired 
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Lacklustre performance of the state Congress government, rising inflation, increasing scandals of corruption plaguing the Central Government led by Congress, factional infighting within Uttarakhand Congress leaders could be summed up as the reasons for the miserable debacle of the ruling party in the civic elections in the state.

The state Congress Party has been plagued by intense infighting since the formation of the Congress government after the 2012 January state Assembly polls. The banner of revolt raised by Union Minister Water Resources Harish Rawat against the choice of the party high command for the post of Chief Minister of the state, failed to stem the rot despite efforts to placate the dissidents.

The party tasted the ire of the voters when the party candidate Saket Bahuguna and son of the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna was defeated in the Tehri byelection in October 2012. The Tehri Lok Sabha seat was vacated by Vijay Bahuguna himself.

The efforts by the state Congress government to win over the masses on the emotional issue of constructing an Assembly building at Gairsain backfired as Harish Rawat group started talking in different tones. The group started demanding that Gairsain be made the permanent capital of the state raising an unnecessary controversy for the party and the state government. The issue was reflected in the results of the civic polls even at Gairsain where the party lost to the Opposition.

The selection of the party candidates and the conduct of the elections also left much to be desired. Instead of putting up consensus candidates, all the senior leaders got tickets for their own favourites, forcing the opposite groups within the party to start working against the official party candidates. The candidates put up by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Union Minister Harish Rawat, state party chief Yashpal Arya and senior minister Indira Hriydesh tasted defeat.

The ruling Congress failed to gauge the mood of the general masses reeling under rising inflation and lacklustre performance of the state government.

The Opposition BJP was able to effectively campaign against the Congress Party for its acts of omissions and commissions from the Central Government to the state government.

The shrill campaign by the BJP overshadowed the Congress campaign.

Interestingly, even for the prestigious seat of Mayor of Dehradun, the Congress Party could not come up with a manifesto and the party candidate, a close associate of Chief Minister, was left high and dry with most of senior party leaders working against him.

The Chief Minister made himself available for only two election meetings in Dehradun, while Union Minister Harish Rawat also addressed a few gatherings.

The state Congress chief was seen in Dehradun only in one election meeting. The party's election coordination committee formed by the state party chief Yashpal Arya was non-starter.

The poll debacle in the civic polls could be alarming for the ruling Congress which has to again face the electorate in the Lok Sabha polls scheduled in 2014. 

Cong satisfied at civic bodies’ poll results
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Uttarakhand Congress has expressed satisfaction over the civic polls results.

Party spokesman Dhirendra Pratap said Congress had last time won in 17 civic bodies but the figure was likely to increase as the trends amply indicated, and congress was already ahead in 20 civic bodies. He thanked party workers on behalf of state Congress president Yashpal Arya and Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna for carrying out a sincere party campaign.

Referring to Dehradun mayoral election, Dhirendra Pratap said while Congress candidate in 2008 got 40,000 votes, this time Congress polled 57,000 votes.

Later in the evening, Congress workers also distributed sweets to celebrate the overall success of the party in the civic polls in state.

53 pollution testing centres issued notices
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, April 30
The Uttarakhand Transport Department has issued notices to 53 pollution testing centres, including 15 in the Kumaon region, after confirming the charge that these centres are issuing fake certificates without testing the pollution levels of vehicles.

“After receiving complaints that these pollution testing centres are issuing fake certificates, we decided to access the situation and sent a department employee posing as a vehicle owner. The employee, who was without a vehicle, obtained a fake pollution checked certificate. We cancelled the licence of the centre. We also issued notices to 53 other centres against which complaints had been received,” said Sudhanshu Garg, Assistant Transport Commissioner.

Garg said the department had asked its regional managers to depute technical teams to check and monitor the working of these centres.

“The department has found out that most of the pollution testing centres have old machines that are giving wrong readings. The situation has arisen as the pollution checking machines have not been repaired for a long period,” he said. Garg added of the 53 pollution testing centres that had been issued notices, seven were in Nainital, one each in Almora and Champawat and Bageshwar districts, two in Pithoragarh district and four in Udham Singh Nagar district in the Kumaon region. “We have also ensured that annual maintenance should be part of the purchase deal if any pollution testing centre buys a machine from a firm,” he said. 

Draft ropeways Act on safety norms presented 
Tribune News service

Dehradun, April 30
The state government will soon finalise a ropeways Act to ensure the safety of the people and regularise the norms for the construction of ropeways in the state. A draft Act was presented at a meeting presided over by Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain at the Secretariat here today.

The Chief Secretary gave directions that the Act must ensure the safety of the people. He said norms should be decided for the construction and operation of companies.

Jain said the ropeways could be effective in promoting tourism, in carrying crops and enabling transportation in hill areas.

He added a large number of ropeways should be constructed.

Principal Secretary (Industries) Rakesh Sharma, Principal Secretary (PWD) SS Sandhu, Secretary, Tourism, Umakant Panwar, Additional Secretary Amit Negi and Staff Officer (CS) MC Joshi were present at the meeting. 

IT laboratories to be set up in 500 secondary schools 
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Information Technology laboratories will be set up in 500 secondary schools in the state. IT-enabled classrooms will benefit 2 lakh students. A meeting regarding this was held at the Secretariat, presided over by Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain here today.

The Chief Secretary said that the learning level of students should be enhanced. Evaluation of the project should be done and teachers should be trained in IT.

The Boot (Built, Own, Operate and Transfer) based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project will be run for 5 years in these schools. Multimedia teaching and learning tools will be provided. Private partners will supply computer hardware, software, webcams, printers and UPS.Training to teachers will be provided by private partners, who will also provide human resources. A committee will be constituted at the school level, which will consist of the principal, 2 parents, 2 students and representatives from the private sector. A Programme Management Unit will also be set up at the state level to manage the project.

Principal Secretary (Industries) Rakesh Sharma, Principal Secretary (Finance) Radha Raturi, PS (Planning) S.Ramaswamy, PS (PWD) S.S.Sandhu, Secretary, School Education, Manisha Panwar, DG, Education, PS Jangpangi, and Additional Secretary Piyush Singh were present at the meeting.

California centre to help curb monkey menace in Uttarakhand
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Finally, relief could come to the state infested with the monkey menace as California National Primate Research Centre has been roped in for efforts to curb the problem, particularly in northern parts of the country.

The premier wildlife research institution, the Dehradun Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, along with the Central Zoo Authority has entered into an agreement with California National Primate Research Centre to check the growing monkey menace in north India, particularly the states of Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

Set up in 1962, the California National Primate Research Centre is affiliated to the University of California and is the authority in dealing with the monkey issue. The centre houses more than 5,000 monkeys, a majority of them being Rhesus macaques.

While Uttarakhand is facing a formidable challenge of monkey menace, particularly in urban areas, the neighouring Himachal Pradesh, too, despite the sterilisation programme for monkeys, is still to find a solution to the menace. There have even been human deaths in monkey attack incidents in Delhi.

In Uttarakhand, the monkey menace continues to grow despite efforts of the state forest authorities to check it. Apart from mischief, monkeys are mainly responsible for the destruction of crops, particularly in the hills. The authorities has even mooted rehabilitation centres. It had gone for an awareness drive to stop people from feeding monkeys, a factor behind the increase in the menace. But a solution eludes Uttarakhand.

Senior Wildlife conservationist in Uttarakhand AK Singh welcomed the role of the California National Primate Research Centre in solving the menace. He said the centre had a good reputation towards population management strategies for Rhesus macaques, particularly in urban environments.

Non-government organisations in Uttarakhand, too, have suggested a multi-pronged approach to solve the menace. They have called for a comprehensive research to devise a sustainable and safe strategy and protocol for monkey rehabilitation, instead of knee-jerk reactions, such as dislocating their troops. They argue that the current trend of dislocating monkeys must be stopped as it aggravates the problem and has a negative long-term effect on ecology. The NGOs have also advised planting of flower and fruit-bearing trees in reserve forests of the state in order to keep the monkeys within the confines of forests.

Students apprised of UK varsities
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 30
Unison World School hosted five UK universities under an event named “UK in City - A visit by 5 UK Universities” here today. The event was open for students of classes X to XII.

Rohit Verma from Anglia Ruskin University, Robin Reeves from Aston University, Varun Ramesh representing the University of Exeter, Neharika Kataria from the University of Glasgow and Animesh Atray representing the University of Worcester gave presentations at the event.

Moonesha Gupta, Head of Education UK–North India, British Council, led the team and the event was coordinated by Neha Pandey, school counsellor. The visit aimed at making the students aware about various UK universities, entry requirements, procedures, ways of preparation for admission, etc.