Finance ministers' conclave at Mussoorie
Tax: Bahuguna hopeful of consensus among states
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vjay Bahuguna has hoped that the empowered committee of Finance Ministers would be able to create a consensus amongst various states on tax matters. Chief Minister Bahuguna was addressing the Finance Ministers of various states at their empowered committee meeting being held at Mussoorie.

Bahuguna said it was a major achievement of the empowered committee that the state-level VAT system was implemented.

Dinesh Aggarwal, Uttarakhand Planning Minister, said that tax reforms would lead to the removal of the internal physical trade barrier and internal economic trade barrier and result in the development of the common Indian market.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and committee chairman Sushil Kumar Mody heard the views of various Finance Ministers and asked for their suggestions.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna welcomed the delegates to Uttarakhand and hosted a lunch in their honour.

Among the delegates were Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister AR Reddy, Gujarat Power Minister Saurabh Patel, Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Chaudhary, HP Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary, J&K Finance Minister AR Rather, Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani, MP Finance Minister Raghavji, Meghalaya Excise Minister ZM Sangma, Punjab Finance Minister PS Dhindsa, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister BV Ramanna, Uttar Pradesh Commercial Tax Advisory Committee Chairman SM Aggarwal, Delhi Finance Minister AK Walia and Empowered Committee member-secretary Satish Chandra.

Top posts in AIDS Control Society lying vcant
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
With half the positions lying vacant for the past several months, the Uttarakhand State AIDS Control Society (USAC) has been facing problems in executing programmes for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.

The society has been without the services of a permanent Additional Project Director (APD) and at the top level, the posts of Assistant Director, STD, Assistant Director, Surveillance, Assistant Director, Care and Support, and Assistant Director, Basic Services, are yet to be filled.

“In the absence of senior officials, the programmes are suffering. As our programmes are funded by the National AIDS Control Society, a certain timeline has to be adhered to,” said Dr YC Sharma, DG, Health.

Since April, an officiating APD who was earlier Joint Director, Blood Safety, has been handling the responsibilities of the USAC and financial powers of the Blood Safety Division.

The Joint Director of Blood Safety was relieved from the post on April 16 and asked to officiate as APD, USAC, on April 17.

The exercise was allegedly carried out to accommodate the Assistant Director, STD, who was promoted to the post of Joint Director, Blood Safety Division, a few months back.

Interestingly, for the past one year, she has been on long leave, and not yet taken charge as Joint Director, Blood Safety Division. She is a senior IAS officer's wife.

The present officiating APD, Dr Meenakshi Uniyal, has been also been looking into the financial duties of Joint Director, Blood Safety.

“Dr Uniyal will also have to oversee the process of soliciting applications for the post of APD for which an advertisement has been placed by USAC. She is also one of the candidates for the post. Earlier, the government had not given any indication that the selection of the APD would be through the interview process. After the minister failed to find a suitable candidate for the post, the post was advertised,” said a senior doctor.

Govt sensitive to employees’ needs: Bahuguna
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said today that employees had a great role in the development of the state and the government was sensitive towards their needs and welfare. He was speaking at the seventh convention of the state employees’ joint council at Town Hall here today.

Bahuguna said the government was keen to fulfil the demands of the employees while keeping in view the limited resources of the state. He added the government did not want that the morale of the employees to go down as it would adversely affect the development of the state.

The Chief Minister said the employees should realise that their and the responsibility of bureaucrats was of immense importance.

He said the budget of the state was Rs 25,000 crore and out of which 68 per cent was being spent on non-plan expenses. He added the government was trying to increase the sources of revenue.

Bahuguna said in view of the eco-sensitive zone declared in Uttarkashi the state government would ask for Green Bonus from the Planning Commission on May 23.

MLA Raj Kumar also addressed the convention. State president of the council Dr Prahlad Singh welcomed the guests while general secretary Pradeep Kohli handed over a memorandum of demands to the Chief Minister.

The major demands include three promotions during the entire service of the government employee, same grade pay on same post, raising of retirement age to 62 years, common category posts of state employees be given Central parity, LTC facility for state government employees, hill allowance for all employees, border area allowance to employees posted in border areas of the state, simplification of child care leave and the employees working in the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) be declared government employees.

Harak should quit two other posts also, says Bhatt
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
The Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, Ajay Bhatt, said Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat should resign from two other posts that he was occupying illegally to save the Congress-led state government from further embarrassment.

“The posts of Chairman of the Uttarakhand Poorv Sainik Kalyan Nigam (UPNAL) and Chairman of the Uttarakhand Seed Certification Agency that Harak Singh Rawat is occupying fall under the ambit of the office of profit. He should resign from these posts immediately,” said Bhatt at a press conference here today.

He said the guilt of the Uttarakhand government was all too evident when it issued an ordinance in which the posts of Chairman of the Uttarakhand Seeds and Terai Development Corporation (TDC), the Uttarakhand Poorv Sainik Kalyan Nigam (UPNAL) and the Uttarakhand Seed Certification Agency were kept out of the ambit of the office of profit with retrospective effect.

“The Chief Minister and the Agriculture Minister should not only apologise to the people of the state but also resign from their posts as they had made false claims on the issue. The Chief Minister should not have helped the minister as he was misleading the public,” said Bhatt.

He added it is believed that after the BJP approached the Governor for his intervention on the issue on April 2 “he may have intervened”.

Bhatt said Harak Rawat would be on a sticky wicket once the shareholders of the Uttarakhand Seeds and Terai Development Corporation (TDC) go to court. “The BJP too has decided to appeal in the court on the issue,” he said.

Two officials increase nursing seats by fraud, suspended
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has announced the suspension of two officials of the medical education department for their alleged role in fraudulently increasing nursing seats.

He said Sunil Singh, an under secretary, and Rajnish Jain, a section officer, had been suspended and an inquiry initiated into the alleged scandal.

He reiterated his resolve to follow up probes initiated against officials and staff of the state government in various corruption cases.

Asked about alleged the irregularities in the construction of Almora Medical College, he said a tender was allocated to a private firm in the previous BJP regime, but he would initiate an inquiry into the issue.

Rs 17 crore to make Pithoragarh city roads concrete
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 10
Work on making the roads in the town concrete will begin next month.

A total of 46-km long roads inside the town will be made concrete by spending Rs 17 crore, Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad sources said.

“On behalf of the Nagar Palika Parishad, the PWD has received the budget and work on the city roads will begin soon," said Khimanand Joshi, executive officer of the Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad.

He said the 6-km long patch of the highway which passes through the town will be concreted by Border Roads Organisation as it a part of the Tanakpur-Tawaghat national highway no 9.

“The BRO local unit has also approved the budget for the construction of this road which falls in the town and forms a part of the highway,” said the Nagar Palika officer.

Taking credit for the release of the budget for this, the BJP said the budget was granted to the Pithoragarh Nagar Palika Parished to turn the city roads into concrete during its regime.

“After the Congress government came to power in the state, it concealed the budget," alleged Suresh Joshi, state secretary of the BJP.

MDDA complex on Dispensary Road far from complete
Seema Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
Officials of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) may claim that its new complex on Dispensary Road will be ready in four or five days. But in reality only the tehsil complex will be in a position to shift there by May 19. The third floor will need at least two months for completion. It will take another three to four months for the construction work on the complex to end.

The shopkeepers on Dispensary Road have been given the deadline of May 15 to shift but the work on the complex is still not complete. There is very little activity on the first floor as half of the total number of shops is unoccupied.

Secretary, MDDA, Banshidhar Tiwari said, “The authority will start demolising shops on Dispensary Road after May 15. The tehsil office too is being shifted on priority because its building is dilapidated. It has become perilous to work there. Second, we also require that place for parking. Once this place is ready, shopkeepers of Paltan Bazaar and other markets can park their vehicles here.”

The shopkeepers are working overtime to build cabins and complete wood and related work on the first floor where 66 shops have been allotted. Another set of 33 shops have been allotted on the second floor.

Ramesh Kumar, a shopkeeper, said, “We are happy that we are getting the ownership of our shops. I had a shop on Dispensary Road since 1950 but I was not its legal owner.” He said the setting up of cabins and other furnishing work would cost him Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Each floor has been given two sets of 33 power connections. In the new building the MDDA is installing a lift what it has not done at its shopping complex on Rajpur Road. The first lift is on the second floor where the tehsil complex is almost ready.

Ranjana Verma, SDM, said she would issue a special notice whereby those who spit on the premises of the new complex would be fined Rs 500.

As the third floor is not ready, Executive Engineer, MDDA, NS Rawat said the District Supply Office, the Consumer Forum and the Weights and Measurement Department, which are shift there, would do so later on. He added since these were government offices, they would not create any problem in shifting.

Labourers could be seen levelling soil at the entrance corridor at the building. They had a lot of work to complete in next one week.

CM to inaugurate tehsil office
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 10
The tehsil office at the new MDDA complex on Dispensary Road will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister on May 21. District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and Vice-Chairman, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) R. Meenaxi Sundaram jointly inspected the construction work at the MDDA complex on Dispensary Road today.

Purushottam directed the working agency to complete all the pending work regarding the construction work of tehsil office by May 12.

Tehsil complex will be shifted to the third floor of the building. He said the shifting of tehsil office would start from May 15 and continue till May 19. He asked tehsildar Harigiri to prepare a plan chart, according to which the tehsil office will be shifted section by section.

To keep the convenience of the public in due consideration, the revenue and record sections will be shifted on May 19. Purushottam also directed them to instal a lift by May 18 as the office will be open for public by May 21. The Chief Minister will inaugurate the tehsil office on May 21.

On this occasion, Sundaram said: “The work related to Dispensary Road complex is complete. Tehsil office is almost ready. The work of putting cabin into it will be completed in next two or three days.” He said since this land belonged to Veterinary Hospital, four rooms on ground floor have been given to the dispensary of veterinary hospital.

On this occasion, Secretary, MDDA, Banshidhar Tiwari, Additional District Magistrate Harak Singh Rawat, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ranjana Verma, veterinarian Avinash Anand and other officials of the administration and working agency were also present.

Upset over court case, Dhami threatens to quit Cong
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, May 10
Harish Dhami, MLA, Dharchula, has threatened to leave the Congress if the state party leadership continued to ignore him and not cooperate with him.

Dhami told this correspondent here today that the state government had neither fulfilled basic demands of Dharchula people nor it had given him a chance to be proud of being a Congress MLA. “Whenever I took up any demand with the state leaders, I was silenced in the name of party discipline,” he said.

The Congress MLA said had the state leadership wished to rescue him from the legal tangle it would have filed a petition in a higher court immediately after a Didihat court issued non-bailable warrant against him. Dhami was returning from the Nainital High Court where he got relief against the non-bailable warrant issued by the Didihat court.

Dhami said the Chief Minister had not even fulfilled the promises he had made at a public meeting at Dharchula in his presence six months ago. “The Chief Minister has not fulfilled the promises of setting up a polytechnic at Bansbagar and one 30-bed hospital each in the Madkot and Tejam areas,” he added.

He alleged that the Chief Minister had not even fulfilled the promise of declaring Dharchula and Munsiyari as reserved areas. “The Chief Minister even did not take up with the Central government the issue of bringing 110 villages out of the limits of the Askot wildlife sanctuary,” said Dhami.

He added he was duty bound to fulfil the promises made to the people of his constituency before worrying about the party discipline. “Even in the recent local bodies’ elections when the people rejected the Congress, we managed to win the Dharchula Nagar Panchayat for the party. But for this win the Dharchula people have got nothing in return,” said Dhami.

Asked if he had conveyed his sentiments about the Congress to Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat, whom he considers his leader, Dhami said he did not want to involve Rawat in any of his issues with the state government.

Airy ready to strengthen UKD
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, May 10
Giving an indication of leading his faction of the party again, senior UKD leader Kashi Singh Airy said if given the responsibility at the general body meeting of UKD workers, which is scheduled to be held in Dehradun on the 19th and 20th of this month, he would work to strengthen the party.

Talking to reporters at his residence here, Airy said the general body meeting had been called to have a new executive of the party, which would work to activate the party workers once again. “We will organise the people on the burning issues and the old workers of the party will be activated on the basis of the struggle on these issues,” said Airy.

The UKD leader said mainstream parties like the BJP and the Congress had been exploiting it for personal benefits consecutively, which was the main cause of political instability in the state.

He alleged that these partieshad misguided the people on the issue of making Gairsain as the permanent capital of the state.

2 arrested with leopard skins in Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Two persons arrested by the police with two leopard skins and body parts in Haridwar on Friday.

Dehradun, May 10
The Uttarakhand Police today arrested two persons and seized three leopard skins from their possession from Haridwar district on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off, the police intercepted an Indica car at Chandi bridge in Haridwar. On seeing the police, two inmates of the car tried to flee leaving the car, but were arrested by the vigilant police. On search, three leopard skins were found in the vehicle.

On interrogation, the two identified themselves as Ramesh and Abbal Singh, residents of Karanprayag, and stated that they were looking for a customer for the skins. Total value of the skins could be more than Rs 30 lakh in the illegal animal skin market.

A reward of Rs 25,000 was announced for the Haridwar police team involved in the operation.

2-day book fair at Unison school
Tribune News Service

Students visit the book fair organised at Unison World School in Dehradun on Friday.

Dehradun, May 10
A two-day book fair began at Unison World School here today.

The fair was inaugurated by School Principal Veena Singh. All Deans, heads of the departments, staff and students visited the fair.

The fair aims at making quality books available to students and stimulate interest in reading. The fair generated enormous excitement for reading books among students.

Leading publishers - Sage, Viva, S Chand, Avichal, Wiley, Arihant, Jaico and UBS - displayed their books on various subjects. Students of many reputed schools, including Kasiga School, Jaswant Modern School and the RIMC, visited the fair.