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Revoke eco-sensitive zone notification, CM asks PM
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Two-day mega convention of UKD from May 19
UJM members being offered high positions in UKD
35 pc funds lapsed under MLA LAD
Party infighting led to Congress defeat, feel leaders
Focus now on forming new BJP working committee
Protest against land acquisition policy from May 24
Private cardiologists on Char Dham Yatra route
Chief Secy meets PM's aide on eco-sesitive zone
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Revoke eco-sensitive zone notification, CM asks PM
Dehradun, May 6 The PM reportedly assured the delegation that he would look into the matter. The delegation met the PM at Parliament House in New Delhi today. The delegation told the PM that after the final notification, the state Cabinet deliberated upon the impact of this notification on the development of the economically backward border areas and concluded that it would be a setback to the region’s development. Chief Minister Bahuguna requested for a high-powered committee of various ministries, like the Defence, Home, Water Resources, MoEF, Power and NDMA (Disaster Management), to take a re-look at the notification. The PM assured the Chief Minister that appropriate action would be taken in the matter. After meeting the PM, Bahuguna also met Minister of State for Environment and Forests (independent charge) Jayanthi Natarajan and requested her to take action in the matter. The delegation comprised Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat, MPs Satpal Maharaj and Pradeep Tamta, Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Amrita Rawat, Congress legislator from Uttarkashi Vijaypal Singh Sajwan, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar and Congress general secretary and in charge of Uttarakhand affairs Birendra Singh. Bahuguna said the draft notification for the eco-sensitive zone was published on July 1, 2011. Since the common man of the area was agitated against the declaration, the Uttarakhand Assembly had passed a resolution, requesting the Central Government to stop the declaration of the zone as eco-sensitive. “My predecessor had written to the minister concerned on August 8, 2011. I had also written about this matter to the Minister of State for Environment and Forest on December 18, 2012, to which there has been no response. The final notification was not available on the website till April 8, 2013, otherwise the state government would have responded earlier. In spite of serious objections of the state government, the draft notification has been finalised and shown to be published on 18/12/2012,” he said. The CM pointed out certain irregularities regarding the notification. While the draft notification indicated the declaration of about 100 m on either side of the Bhagirathi, which is around 40 sq km, the final notification covered the entire watershed having an area of 4179.59 sq km. “It is surprising that an enhancement of one hundred times has been introduced, without following the due procedure of consultation with us. Again, in the draft notification, only hydro-electric projects beyond 25 MW were sought to be prohibited, whereas in the final notification, all hydro-electric power projects have been prohibited, which has serious implication for the economy of the state,” said Bahuguna. He said this implied that the hydro-electric projects with a capacity of 1743 MW, which are in various stages of development, could not be executed any more, apart from the already incurred expenditure of Rs 1,061 crore going waste. The state would be deprived of a significant source of revenue in future. Such a sensitive decision had been taken by the MoEF without consultation with the state government or the local people, he said. The Chief Minister said under the final notification, even trekking activities and vehicular traffic were sought to be regulated. The rural economy depended on the chardham yatra and the Gangotri river was an integral part of this yatra. Restricting the flow of pilgrims on the yatra route and the Gangotri in the garb of eco-sensitive zone would not only ruin Uttarakhand’s economy but also hurt sentiments of crores of devotees. He added that the declared eco-sensitive zone was next to the Chinese border and the notification regulated even the defence infrastructure. This notification was incorrect or defective from the strategic point of view and would adversely affect the construction of roads by the Border Roads Organisation. It was against the national interest and this assessment of the state government would also be borne out in the Union Defence Ministry. “To my understanding, this is the first notification of its kind in the strategic Himalayan region,” he added. He said Uttarakhand already had a plethora of controls to protect the environment in the declared eco-sensitive zone, namely Gangotri National Park, Gangotri Special Development Authority, Bhagirathi Valley Development Authority etc. Such additional restrictions in the name of eco-sensitive zone would backfire and result in a severe backlash against the state and the Central Governments, he added. Bahuguna said the fact that the initial notification covered only 100 m on either side of the river, while the final notification took the entire watershed of 4179.59 sq km, showed that there was a breach of statutory provisions and violation of principles of natural justice. This serious flaw in the notification may lead to it being set aside by the court, causing embarrassment to the state and Central Governments. He expressed concern that restricting the number of pilgrims on the chardham route would lead to law and order problems. The chardham yatra is expected to commence on May 17 and bookings have been made by national and international tourists well in advance. The delegation requested that the notification be kept in abeyance till the concerns were addressed by the Central government. “Keeping in view the huge public resentment, I request you to kindly rescind the notification of the eco-sensitive zone in its present form with immediate effect,” said the Chief Minister. |
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Power tariffs raised by 5.21 per cent
Dehradun, May 6 He said a marginal increase of Rs 1 per connection per month has been made in fixed chages for lifeline/BPL consumers and consumers living in snowbound areas, with no change in energy charges for these consumers. Similarly, tariffs for consumers whose consumption is 100 units per month have not been increased either. There is 10 paise/unit increase for consumers with consumption of 200 units per month, Rs 25 paise/unit increase for consumers with consumption rate of 400 units/ per month. Those consuming above 400 units a month will shell out 40 paise extra per unit and those consuming 500 units will face an increase of 7 per cent in the existing tariffs. Non-domestic or commercial users will pay 18 paise/unit extra. Those
having private tubewells will pay Rs 13 units more, small industry 22 units more, heavy industries exercising the facility of High Tension electricity will give Rs 23 units extra and mixed load industries will pay Rs 22 units more for the energy consumption in the FY. The tariff hike for industries have been to the tune of Rs 5.29 per cent. The industrial consumers availing continuous supply will have to spend 15 per cent extra as usual for continuity
of power. Fixed charges for single phase domestic consumers and 3 phase domestic consumers have been increased by Rs 5 per connection per month, and Rs 10 per
connection per month, respectively. Tariffs of unmetered category in rural hilly areas have been increased by Rs 10 per connection per month and for other areas by Rs 25 per connection per month. Places of worship will be considered under domestic category. The private small-time businessmen consuming 50 units with load 4 kv will pay Rs 4 units more. Jagmohan Lal said the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) had placed the proposal of 50 per cent hike in the tariffs but UERC kept it bare minimum at 5.21
per cent. Last year, the UPCL had proposed the hike of 47 per cent in response to which UERC has hiked the tariff rate by 7 per cent. Lal said UERC gave the benefit of 900 MW of free power which UPCL gets in the state to the state by 2 per cent in the aggregate. Otherwise, the tariff hike could be 7 plus per cent this year. Voltage rebate for consumers receiving supply at 132 KV and above has been increased from the current level of 2.5 per cent of the rate of charge to 5 per cent of the rate
of charge. UPCL had projected a total Annual Revenue Report (ARR) of Rs 4834.20 crore for financial year (FY) 2013-14, considering distribution loss of 18.25 per cent, thus projecting a total revenue gap of Rs 1885.12 crore, including truing up for FY 2010-11 and FY 2011-12, including carrying cost. For recovery of this revenue gap, UPCL had requested for a tariff hike of about 50 pc. In addition, UPCL had requested the commission to approve the additional regulatory surcharge of 11.37 per cent to recover the claim of Rs 1581.24 crore on account of impact of transfer scheme with carrying cost till FY 2012-13. Based on scrutiny of data submitted by UPCL, the commission has determined the ARR for the FY 2013-14 as Rs 3932.60 crore. The above ARR takes into account the impact of final truing up for FY 2010-11 and provisional truing up for FY 2011-12. The commission further estimated the revenues at existing tariffs on projected sale of 9,395.12 MU for the FY 2013-14 as Rs 3753.36 crore, which left a revenue gap of Rs 179.25 crore. An annual tariff hike of 4.78 per cent was required. However, since the revised tariffs will be applicable from May 1, the hike required to cover the gap in 11 months works out to 5.21 per cent. |
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Two-day mega convention of UKD from May 19
Dehradun, May 6 Panwar has now been removed and the working committee, too, was dissolved after the meeting. It was decided to call a two-day mega convention of the party on May 19 and 20 in Dehradun city. The team which will oversee the arrangements in the wake of the mega convention comprises Anand Singh Silmana, who has been made convener, Shailash Guleri, assistant convener, members, including Asha Sharma, Jay Prakash Upadhyaya, Bahadur Singh Rawat and Harish Pathak, in chage, Dharmender Kathait and Kunwar Pratap. About the decision taken at the meeting, Kashi Singh Aeri said, “The mega convention of the party has been called on May 19 and 20 where election for the party president will be held and a new working committee will be constituted.” He said the party had the requisite attendance of more than one-third members in the convention to pass resolutions to this effect. He said they also reviewed the alleged arbitrary decisions taken by the president. ''We are not interested in the decisions taken over withdrawal to the state government by him. But all the members of working committee certainly expressed their deep anguish the way Panwar expelled leaders and members from the party without calling a meeting of the working committee or issuing prior notices to them.'' He said party president Trivender Singh Panwar had been making four or five members of his coterie to sign on such decisions to show that he got the decisions approved from working committee. He alleged that Panwar had been misguiding not only leaders, but also the public and media. |
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UJM members being offered high positions in UKD
Dehradun, May 6 Former party president Trivender Singh Pawar could not give a clear answer to the question, as he said, “The UJM become a member of UKD as it accepted the membership of the party. But it has not fully merged into the party. Hence, it is carrying a separate identity of UJM. Since UJM, being a social and apolitical party, cannot fight the election, connected with UKD it can fight the election.” |
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35 pc funds lapsed under MLA LAD
Dehradun, May 6 A sum of Rs 65 crore out of a total of Rs 17,750 lakh released under the MLA
LAD fund in the last financial year has lapsed. The amount will not be carried forward in the new financial year. The MLAS could spend only 45 per cent of the total amount and Rs 7,937 lakh was the expenditure incurred by the 13 MLAs of the state. The MLAs sitting on the funds is nothing new in the state. To ensure proper spending of funds released under the MLA LAD, the Department of Finance had issued an order according to which, out of the sanctioned amount released for a particular year, only 20 per cent of the unspent amount would be carried forward the next year. Interestingly, the performance of first-time MLAs is extremely poor with Congress MLA Manoj Tiwari and Harish Dhami spending 4 per cent of the funds. For that matter, the Uttarakhand Finance Minister has spent 8 per cent of the funds and the Uttarakhand Tourism Minister has spent only 10 per cent of the funds. The MLAs have now begun finding fault with the government order and started exerting pressure for its withdrawal. "How can the government expect the departments to spend the plan money on time when almost all MLAs themselves are poor spenders of the MLA LAD fund. They have a habit of hoarding the money till the last so that it could be utilised in the election year. The MLAs will soon raise a banner of revolt against the government order," said former Chief Secretary RS Tolia. In comparison to the Kumaon division, the spending under the MLA LAD fund by the MLAs of the Garhwal division was far better during the last financial year. A total of Rs 10,500 lakh were released in 2012-2013 out of which Rs 5793.95 lakh were spent in Garhwal by the MLAs. In the Kumaon division, Rs 7,250 lakh were released and Rs 2,143 lakh was the expenditure. In Pauri district, the expenditure was 51 per cent, Chamoli 13 per cent, Rudraprayag 34 per cent, Tehri 42 per cent, Uttarkashi 41 per cent, Haridwar 68 per cent and in Dehradun 71 per cent. In Almora district, the expenditure was 13 per cent, in Nainital 21 per cent, Pithoragarh 31 per cent, Bageshwar 80 per cent, Champawat 22 per cent and in Udham Singh Nagar the expenditure was 36 per cent. |
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Haldwani woman charges SP with rape
Dehradun, May 6 Even at the time of the report being written, all efforts were being made to persuade her to leave her fast but she continued sitting outside the building. The police is worried about her safety. DGP Satyavrat Bansal said he would urge state government to quickly respond on the inquiry report so that action could be taken into
the matter. Mehra tested the patience of many senior police officials who tried their level best to make her leave her resolve. SP Rural, Mamta Bohra, tried to pacify her, saying that an inquiry report into the matter had been sent to the state government, which has the authority to decide whether the gazetted officer was guilty. She
also suggested Mehra to complain to the Home Department when the latter raised questions over the credibility of the report. Mehra said the inquiry was deliberately delayed for one month to give enough time to Dobhal to exert pressure on her to withdraw her complaint. She said she was being threatened by him, which was why she was sitting outside the police headquarters. She was unhappy that the report had been prepared in such a way that the case against Dobhal
got weakened. Mehra said she came in contact with Dobhal over a matter in October last year. After that he began sending messages to her and lured her, saying that he was unmarried. After developing sexual relations with her, he revealed to her on ctober 16 that he was married and had a kid. She alleged:'' He asked me to snap all ties with him. He threatened to register a false case me, and even threatened to get
me killed.'' |
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Party infighting led to Congress defeat, feel leaders
Pithoragarh, May 6 The party unit in Champawat town, where it lost it to the BJP, attributed the defeat to local Congress MLA Hemesh Kahrkwal as he had given only one day to the campaign and in that only some local workers were involved. “The main reason of the defeat of the party candidate in Champawat is that most of the Congress leaders were with the rebel candidate in the election,” said Mohan Ram Arya, district president of the Congress committee in Champawat district. The district Congress president said the review report would be sent to the state party high command and national vice-president of the party Rahul Gandhi. “We will demand the expulsion of these anti-party elements and meet state leaders in this connection,” said the party president in Champawat. The Congress party also reviewed the reasons for the defeat of the party candidate in Lohaghat town and expressed concerned over the decreasing vote share of the party in the town. “We have found that if some local party leaders and the Congress MP had shown interest in the election and given full time to the campaign, the Congress would have won in this town,” said Mohan Ram, district Congress president. |
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Focus now on forming new BJP working committee
Dehradun, May 6 Soon after his elevation to the post of state party president early this year, Rawat was expected to constitute his team so that a new team could take charge under him, but due to the impending civic body elections, Rawat preferred to maintain status quo. “The chief did a wise thing by postponing the constitution of the working committee because it could have created unnecessary heart burn among those left out and the party could not afford discontented leaders before the civic body elections,” said senior BJP leader Lakhi Ram Joshi. But now with the civic body elections over, the issue has once again come to the fore. “Confabulations among senior leaders in the party and among leaders who are close to Rawat have already started. The party leaders are working on several fronts so that a consensus emerges on
the leaders who should be part of the team that would also oversee the 2014
Lok Sabha elections,” said Joshi. Expectedly, the leaders who are close to former Chief Minister BC Khanduri and former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are expected to get a major share in the team but former Chief Minister BS Koshiyari, too, would not hesitate to ensure his man, too, finds a place in the team. The Uttarakhand BJP office is already agog with the possibility of certain names who are close to Nishank finding a place in the team. During the civic body elections, the party had continued with the old team and had also entrusted responsibility to a few senior leaders whose advice was sought
for running the election campaign. |
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Yoga transforming lives worldwide, says Ramdev
Haridwar, May 6 He said initially yoga was confined to the Himalayan terrains as yoga practitioners remained aloof there, but now yoga had spread throughout the world. It was transforming the lives of billions of people and had taken the health concept to a higher definition. He added that by adhering to yoga, ayurveda and natural medical practices, one could live for 100 years. Swami Ramdev said, “Patanjali Yogpeeth has spread
yoga-ayurveda globally in a scientific, yet easy way. Both health and education are being imprted in Patanjali in a certified, factual and objective way. The world is looking to India now, owing to the revival of the country as yoga and ayurveda power.” Referring to the newly found Vedic-Western educational school, ‘Acharya
Kulam’, which was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Swami Ramdev said Acharya Kulam would give a new definition to the Indian school education system. There is no consideration as far as caste, religion and sect is concerned in
Patanjali, where only nationalism, spiritualism and humanity matter, he said. |
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New forest area, eco-tourism maps discussed at workshop
Dehradun, May 6 Participants from FRI Dehradun, State Forest Department, Uttarakhand, World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun and representatives of various NGOs attended the workshop. Dr PP Bhojvaid, Director, FRI, gave the inaugural speech while Dr S Nautiyal introduced the objective of the workshop. Dr Rajiv Bhartari, CCF, Eco-tourism, presented the concept of eco-tourism and maps designed for Uttarakhand while Dr Malvika Chauhan, Director, ‘Himothan’ and Dr Jitendra Kaur from WWF gave feedback on the designing of these maps. Dr Dhanjay Mohan Rajput, Professor, WII, Dehradun and S Samantha made presentations on bird diversity of FRI. The floristic wealth of new forest was shown by Dr HB Naithani. The workshop concluded with the outline and contents of new forest guidance and eco-tourism maps, with the efforts of Dr D Mohan and Dr Raman Kumar. |
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Protest against land acquisition policy from May 24
Pithoragarh, May 6 “We have decided to fight against the acquisition of agricultural land
of Pantnagar University and the proposed capturing of 2,000 acres of the Khaurpia farm near the university,” he said. An organisation of
the farmers and ex servicemen passed a resolution asking the government to speed up the work on
the proposed railways line from Tanakpur to Jauljibi. “We have approached the Chief Minister and President demanding solutions for security problems of the region,” said Sharma. |
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Private cardiologists on Char Dham Yatra route
Dehradun, May 6 “As there is paucity of heart specialists, we
have taken the help of private hospitals and trusts who have agreed to help us during the
yatra,” said Yogesh Sharma, Director General, Health. However, the Department of Health and Family
Welfare is still unsure on the issue of asking fitness certificates from pilgrims, so that those suffering from heart ailments could be asked to abstain from the journey. “As of now, the issue is not settled as without adequate precautions the yatra becomes risky for
pilgrims not in the pink of health. But for sure, this year we would have better medical facilities on the yatra route,” said Sharma. Besides, the Uttarakhand Minister for Health
and Family Welfare has also written to the health ministers of different states apprising them
about the yatra and how pilgrimage in the cold and mountainous region is different from
the yatras in the plain areas. |
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Chief Secy meets PM's aide on eco-sesitive zone
Dehradun, May 6 He informed the PMO that this would affect the Char Dham Yatra and tourism in the area from Gaumukh to Gangotri. Road construction in the strategic border areas would also be affected, he said, adding that the notification needed to be reviewed. He met Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth and Secretary (Ministry of Environment and Forests) Rajgopalan and put forth the state’s case. Senior officials of the Central Government assured Kumar that a way out would be found so that development in the state is not affected. The Chief Secretary has nominated Secretary (Forests) S.Ramaswamy to defend Uttarakhand’s arguments regarding the notification in the MoEF tomorrow. |
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