BJP may reconsider expulsion orders of winning rebels
Party had suspended 93 candidates for 6 years
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
With some of the rebel candidates tasting victory in the civic body elections, the Uttarakhand BJP is having second thoughts on the expulsion orders issued prior to the civic body elections.

The BJP had taken disciplinary action against 93 rebel candidates after they refused to withdraw and had suspended them for a period of six years, but now with Yashpal Rana, an Independent candidate winning the mayoral seat from Roorkee, Usha Choudhury winning the mayoral seat of Kashipur as an Independent candidate and Umesh Gusain, also an Independent, winning the chairman's seat of Tehri Nagar Palika, the Uttarakhand BJP may reconsider the expulsion orders.

“These candidates were expelled for a period of six years after they refused to withdraw in favour of the official candidates put up by the party, but some of them have won, and in case a need is felt to revoke the expulsion orders, it would be reviewed at the party level,” said Teerath Singh Rawat BJP Uttarakhand Chief.

While addressing a press conference today Rawat said that the BJP has managed to wipe out the Congress in Gairsain nagar panchayat, “We will form a complete board at Gairsain. The people of Gairsain were able to call off the bluff of the Congress that had promised to build an Assembly building in order to hold one sitting of the House in the hilly region. But the people did not fall into the trap. As they know the Congress only makes false promises,” said Rawat.

Launching an attack on the Congress for misusing official machinery in order to influence the elections, Rawat alleged: “In Vikasnagar the SDM was at the bidding of the Congress after declaring the BJP candidate as winner of the chairman's seat of Vikas Nagar nagar palika. He overturned the decision after recounting and declared the Congress candidate as winner by six votes. In several places the BJP workers were threatened by the Congress leaders but the official machinery failed to taken any action and ignored our complaints,” said Rawat.

On the other hand, Vinod Chamoli, who was elected for the second time from the Dehradun mayoral seat and was present during the press conference said that he was in favour of holding elections for the post of Deputy Mayor in Dehradun but this was the prerogative of the state government.

“It is the prerogative of the state government and the State Election Commission can decide on holding of elections for the post of Deputy Mayors. On my part, I am all for following the constitutional provisions and would not oppose it. But it is in the hands of the government and the commission,” said Chamoli.

Interesting trends emerge during civic bodies’ elections
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
The recently concluded civic body elections witnessed interesting trends for the first time since the creation of the state. The voters voted against the ruling party and several Independents were elected in the civic body elections.

In the 2003 civic body elections, the people of Uttarakhand had reposed faith in the Congress. In the second civic body elections held in 2008, the voters voted for the BJP that was already in power.

However, reversing the trend this year, the voters decided to vote for the Opposition BJP. “Though the BJP seemed better organised than the Congress for these elections, a negative vote against the Congress and triangular contests in most corporation seats helped the BJP immensely,” said Jay Singh Rawat, a senior journalist.

But even the Independents made their presence felt in the civic body, a trend that was visible in the 2008 civic body elections also. On the 690 ward seats, the Independents won around 368 seats, BJP 181, Congress 135 seats, BSP 4, Samajvadi 1 and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal 1.

Among the Independents Usha Chaudhury won the mayoral seat from Kashipur and was the second Independent candidate after Yashpal Rana to bag the mayoral seat. In fact Independents faired much better than the ruling Congress which failed to bag even a single mayoral seat.

Analysts say the track record of Independents vis-a-vis the Bahujan Samaj Party and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal too was better. Both the BSP and the UKD could not win a single mayoral seat. While the BSP won around three nagar palika, nagar panchayat seats ( Chairman), Samajvadi and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal won one each seat. The Independents on their won around 22 nagar palika, nagar panchayat seats (Chairman).

Out of the 69 civic body seats for which the elections were held , the Independents bagged around 22 seats. BJP also won 22 seats, Congress 20 , BSP 3 and Samajvadi 1 and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal 1 each.

In the 690 wards, the Independents bagged around 368 seats , BJP 181, Congress 135, BSP 4 Samajvadi 1 and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal 1.

“The performance of the Independents has been getting better with every elections. In the coming days who knows, they may even outstage the political parties. As such we should get our act together. There were large number of women candidates as Independents who managed to win from several seats. Usha Chaudhury, who the Kashipur mayoral seat (reserved woman), has performed exceptionally well as an independent,” said Teerath Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand BJP president. 

The performance of the Independents has been getting better with every elections. In the coming days who knows, they may even outstage the political parties. As such we should get our act together. There were a large number of women Independent candidates who managed to win several seats. Usha Chaudhury, who won the Kashipur mayoral seat (reserved for women), has performed exceptionally well as an Independent.
— Teerath Singh Rawat, BJP chief

Whole village deleted from voters’ list
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
Residents of Harbanswala village complained to District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam that their village, consisting of 350 residents, was deleted from the voters list for the recently held municipal elections. They could not vote in the elections this year.

The DM said he would inquire into the matter and suspend the officers concerned for the lapse.

Hari Om, a resident of the village, said they had taken up the matter with the Chief Election Commissioner of the State Election Commission. The Chief Election Commissioner had said their village was not included in the limits of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC), he said.

Hari Om asked that if their area did not fall in the limits of the DMC, then

why they had been made to vote in all the elections as voter of the area, falling under the MC limits since 2003. The residents had been issued voter cards as voters of the area falling under the MC limits.

They had been paying water and electricity bills to the DMC for all these years. He demanded strong action against the officers responsible for the lapse.

He said this was not today that they met the DM regarding this matter. He said they they had met him earlier and the DM had given verbal orders regarding the inclusion of their names in the voters list. However, they found that their names were missing in the list.

Now, the villagers fear that if they are not recognised as voters of the DMC, they would no longer get the facilities such as drinking water, electricity and sewerage from the DMC.

Hariom said, “Despite the fact that the villagers were keen to be included in the DMC limits under delimitation exercise, our area was deliberately left out.

When we met our former councilor Navin Bisht, he tried to push the

matter under the carpet by saying that they would get nothing by linking their village with the civic body. We have been cheated on all fronts.”

The other villagers said their patience was getting thin. They said If they did not get the justice, they would meet higher officials and hold protest. 

UKD leader Aeri among 10 expelled
Tribune News Service

Dehradun May 1
Party president of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) Trivender Singh Panwar dealt a deadly blow by expelling the seniormost leader and party patron Kashi Singh Aeri, who had been MLA in the undivided Uttar Pradesh thrice and once after the state formation. Panwar also expelled nine other party leaders. They are general secretary Harish

Chand Pathak, Jay Prakash Upadhyaya, city president Bahadur Singh Rawat, Anand Silmana, Asha Sharma, Devender Kandwal, Arjun Singh Rawat, Dharmender Kathait and Pratap Singh Kunwar. He expelled them for allegedly misbehaving in the party office, locking the office, conducting activities against party candidates fighting civic elections, clashing with party office-bearers and woman workers. He said he had been pressurised to call a party convention by them. “Election Commission of India had recognised the party led by him as the actual UKD party on December 27 last year. As per the direction of the commission, a report regarding convening party convention on July 24 and 25 was also sent to it. The decision was approved on February 10 by party working committee also. The demand for convention earlier to that was an orchestrated move to mislead the party workers, create indiscipline and violate the order of the Election Commission. This is the reason Aeri has has been expelled and his primary membership from the party cancelled,” he added.

He said while examining the reasons for the party’s poor performance in this election, he held senior disgruntled leaders responsible for engineering rifts in the party.

About Kashi Singh Aeri, he said Aeri’s closeness with SP leader Mulyam Singh Yadav had been an eyesore throughout. His silence on the issue of delimitation and capital indicated that he used the party to fulfil his personal ambitions. Panwar blamed Aeri for the decline of the party in the elections. In the debacle of 2007 when three out of four MLA candidates lost, he said it was Aeri who pushed for party support to BJP government in the state. He blamed Aeri for the exodus of leaders from the party. He said though Aeri, as MLA, never raised any issue pertaining to state interest, MLA Pushpesh Tripathi did that. In 2012, when the party got further weakened with only one member Preetam Singh Panwar becoming MLA, he too had to be expelled for anti-party activities. He said Aeri was still inclined towards him, which was why his contributions in Tehri Lok Sabha byelection remained negative.

Flaying decision, ousted leaders call convention on May 5
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
The expelled leaders of UKD, including party patron Kashi Singh Aeri and nine others have deplored party president Trivender Singh Panwar’s decision to expel them from the party today. Aeri said: “Since Panwar’s tenure as president came to an end in July 24 and 25, he can no longer take any decision in that capacity. We are calling a mega convention of the the party on May 5 to review the political scenario in the state whereby strong action would be taken against those responsible for disintegrating the party.”

Party spokesperson and general secretary Harish Pathak, who has also been expelled, said: “To show door to Kashi Singh Aeri in the name of indiscipline is a wicked way for Panwar to conceal his shortcomings and misguide the party activists.” He said Panwar and his coterie should have resigned in wake of shameful debacle of the party in the civic poll. Instead of that, they were engaged in expelling and suspending the leaders. He has appealed to the party leaders not to feel disheartened with the current negative developments and deterioration in the party. He said the current imbroglio was born out of the political immaturity and dictatorship. He said they would convene a mega convention by taking along all the splintered factions of the party and usher in a new chapter in the regional politics of the state.

Party president of Uttarakhand Jan Kranti Dal, the split group of UKD, BD Raturi, said it was unfortunate that a stalwart leader of UKD, Kashi Singh Aeri, has been expelled by party president.

Party general secretary DK Pal said Panwar had been expelling leaders by levelling indiscriminate charges on them. Diwakar Bhatt was his first target, then Preetam Singh Panwar and now Kashi Singh.

Cong loses two more Mayors’ seats
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
The ruling Congress got another jolt as it lost mayoral seats of the Rudrapur and Kashipur municipal corporations in the elections. The BJP captured another mayoral seat as the results of the Rudrapur and Kashipur municipal corporations were announced today.

Soni Koli of the BJP defeated Mamata Koli, an Independent candidate, by 4,042 votes in Rudrapur while Usha Chaudhary, an Independent candidate, defeated Rukhsana of the Congress by 7,418 votes. The BJP has won four of the six municipal corporations in the state.

The counting of the votes for the Rudrapur and Kashipur municipal corporations were completed late last night as voting was conducted through ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The results of the Dehradun, Haridwar and Haldwani municipal corporations, where the BJP candidates defeated their rivals in the seats of Mayor, were announced yesterday. An Independent candidate was elected Mayor of the Roorkee Municipal Corporation.

St Joseph’s Academy holds investiture ceremony
Tribune News Service

Brother George, Principal of St Joseph's Academy, honours staff members on May Day.

Dehradun, May 1
St Joseph’s Day and the investiture ceremony for the senior school and middle school council members was celebrated at St Joseph’s Academy, here, today. The chief guests for the occasion were Brig Sanjay Ahuja, president of the Cantonment Board, and Arvind Dwivedi, CEO Cantonment Board, Clement Town. After the prayers, the ceremonial lamp was lit.

It was followed by speeches by students and a skit highlighting the life and teachings of St Joseph.

At the investiture ceremony, exuding confidence and with hearts full of devotion to the school and each other, first the middle school students marched up the aisle to take the pledge administered by the Principal. Soon after, senior students followed suit.

The programme also included a powerpoint presentation highlighting various feats achieved by ex-Josephites. The names of the two students who received a scholarship from the school were also announced.

The following were administered the oath — head boy: Utsav Thapliyal; head girl: Jahnavi Srivastava; house captains — Dooley House: Aditya Singh Bisht and Lavanya Taneja; Bergin House: Paras Barthwal and Chesta Dhawan, Donovan House: Suyash Vishnoi and Aditi Singh; and Duffy House: Siddharth Dangwal and Gauri Saxena.

Labour Day celebrated

The St Joseph’s Academy celebrated St Joseph’s Day as Labour Day with fervor and zeal. Saint Joseph is the patron saint of the school. The day commenced with a special assembly by Class VIII in the morning, which included a prayer for the well being and dignity of the ancillary school staff, speeches, inspirational songs and a skit underlining the importance of manual labour. Principal Bro AJ George and vice-principal Bro Dennis presented gifts to the workers. Pradeep Chettri, supervisor, proposed a vote of thanks. George complimented the staff for their contribution to the maintenance and upliftment of the school.

Labour Day, also known as May Day, is celebrated on May 1 throughout the world in memory of St Joseph, the patron saint of workers, who was a carpenter by profession and a diligent person.

This UKD winner spent no money on publicity
Our correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 1
Giving hope to the regional outfit UKD, voters from Nainital town not only voted for its candidate Shyam Narayan, a retired teacher, in the civic body elections, but also gave a glimpse of a new form of politicking as the UKD candidate won without spending money on publicity. Narayan is the 46th chairman of the oldest urban body of the state now.

“To win the seat, we wholly banked on educated class of the town. The UKD workers approached everyone with the message that Nainital should fructify its name of being the oldest urban body in the state by keeping away from the candidates, who believe in winning by using monetary means in the elections. The response of the voters was positive to our appeal.” said Shyam Narayan after winning the poll.

Shyam Narayan got 3,790 votes and defeated his nearest independent rival with a margin of over 1,000 votes. The candidates from the mainstream parties BJP and the Congress secured the third and fourth positions.

“Though the UKD has gone on backfoot due to the lack of financial means for electoral politics, we can still hope for good as educated and intellectual voters are with the party.” said Narayan Singh Jantwal, former MLA and UKD ex-president.

ICFAI varsity provides free legal aid
Tribune News service

Dehradun, May 1
The faculty of law of ICFAI University, Dehradun, organized a legal aid camp under the aegis of the District Legal Services Authority at Panchayat Bhavan at Selaqui here today. The objective of the camp was to provide free legal aid as well as legal awareness to the rural people.

Justice Rajesh Tandon (retd), Chairperson of the Uttarakhand Human Rights Commission, inaugurated the camp. He spoke about the importance of legal awareness among the masses. The law faculty members also attended to legal problems of local residents and gave them suggestions to redress the same.

Prof DS Sengar, Prof of Law, IIM, Lucknow, Pradhan Mahaveer Khatri, Director of faculty of law, ICFAI University, and Prof B Kumar were also present.

Nepalese delegation visits forest institute
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
Two-day visit of a 16-member Nepal Forest Department delegation to Forest Research Institute (FRI), concluded here today. The delegation led by Deputy Director General, Yam Bahadur Thapa, Department of Forests, Baharmahal, Kathmandu, comprised senior forest officials from the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MOFSC), Department of Forests, Nepal.

Thapa said the objective of the visit was to explore the organisational structure of forestry sectors and scientific forest management (SFM) in India, urban forestry development and private sector forest linked industries both at the Centre and state level.

PP Bhojvaid, director, Forest Research Institute, welcomed the delegation in the board room of the FRI. He briefed about the activities and research work of the FRI. AS Rawat, head, silviculture, FRI, gave a presentation on the activities of the institute and its other institutes located all over the country. During the meeting different divisional heads, Dean and registrar of FRI, a deemed university, were also present.

The delegation visited forest products, chemistry, entomology, pathology and genetics and tree propagation divisions of the institute to see the research work.

The delegation also visited the museums of FRI besides visiting Forest Survey of India, Wildlife Institute of India, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy and Uttarakhand Forest Department headquarters.

Library for bank staff inaugurated
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
A library at the regional office of the Bank of Baroda (BOB) was inaugurated by RK Awsathi, regional manager, for its employees, here today. Besides books on banking, a large collection of books of famous writers have been stocked in the library.

Awasthi, while addressing the staff members on the occasion said he hoped that keeping of Hindi books in library would encourage the staff members to read more books in the language.

Avadh Agrawal, deputy regional head, BOB, appealed to the employees to spend some time with books. He said that the habit of reading books, magazines and newspapers would make the employees more aware.

Kunjwal stresses on digitisation of libraries
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 1
Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly Govind Singh Kunjwal has emphasised on the importance of digitisation of libraries in the present times. He called upon librarians to work towards meeting the challenge.

Kunjwal inaugurated the two-day Fifth National Conference of Central Government Library Association (CGLA) at the Hari Singh Auditorium at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy in Dehradun today.

He added the people were taking to e-journals and the libraries too need to adopt the latest technology. He also referred to the initiatives taken Uttarakhand towards setting up libraries. Additional Director, IGNFA, Alok Saxena spoke at length about the importance of libraries.

Director, Doon Library and Research Centre, Dr BK Joshi spoke about the importance of a public library. Earlier, CGLA president KP Singh said the conference has the theme ‘Management of Electronic Resources: Challenges and Opportunities’ and comprises sessions on planning, development and management of digital libraries, library resource sharing and networking.