Poll issue divides two sanitary workers’ bodies
Dehradun, June 4
The atmosphere at the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) remained volatile with the members of the Safai Karamchari Sangh (SKS) raising slogans against the Uttaranchal Sanitary Workers Association (USWA) today.


A section of the sanitary workers of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation meets Additional District Magistrate Harak Singh Rawat regarding the election of their union in Dehradun on Tuesday.

Compensation for farmers hit by emu scheme sought
Dehradun, June 4
People for Animals, Uttarakhand, member-secretary Gauri Maulekhi today met the Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Ranbir Singh, with three farmers of Dehradun who have suffered major losses because of the Emu Ponzi Scheme.

Dehradun, June 4
Councillors and public had a harrowing time at the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) as all the senior officials there remained absent for the second consecutive day today. Mayor Vinod Chamoli, mukhya nagar adhikari Ashok Kumar, additional mukhya nagar adhikari Sadia Rashid Khan and a few other officials are not coming to the office for one reason or the other. Some of them are out of station and others like Sadia Khan, who is also the CEO of the Uttarakhand Wakf Board, remained busy with her additional charge.

The people, who came to the DMC to get their work done, were seen complaining about the absence of all the senior officials.

Neeraj Sethi, BJP councillor from Niranjanpur, said, “I have not got streetlights for my area. I was assured delivery of streetlights by Monday, but here officials, including the Mayor, are absent. People come to my home and expect me to redress their problems. I can't help it if I do not get support from the DMC”.

Arun Khanna, a councillor from the MKP area, said, he was disappointed with the functioning of the DMC. “I have become a councillor for the first time and was so excited that I would get all the pending works of my area done. But here I am seeing that almost all the officials are not coming to the office”.

Lata Joshi, an elderly woman from Kanwali, said she was coming to the DMC office for the last two days to get sewerage water that collected before her house cleaned. She said it had become difficult for her to live there with foul smell emanating from the sewerage water.

Anil Kohli, a resident of Indira Nagar, said a heap of garbage dumped by sanitary workers in the vacant plot adjacent his house had made his life miserable with mosquitoes and flies hovering around it.

“The sanitary supervisor of the area is not ready to listen to me. Unless senior officials pull up the employees working under them, they do not work on their own these days,” he said. 

Dehradun, June 4
Owing to the apathy of the Doon Hospital authorities, a modern pyrolyzer procured at a cost of Rs 45 lakh to destroy medical waste may soon become a piece of junk, if adequate steps are not taken to repair it.

In the past five years, the hospital has managed to acquire state-of-the-art machines aimed at extending facilities to the patients. However, it has failed to maintain them.

After the pyrolyzer developed a snag, it has been in disuse for the past one and a half years and all biomedical waste of the government facilities is being transported to the Bhagwanpur- based Medical Pollution Control Committee (MPCC) facility.

The Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) said the hospital authorities had not taken permission at the time of installing the facility.

“A proper agreement could have been worked out, wherein the board would have inspected the facility from time to time and given certification under the Biomedical Waste Management Act.

However, we were not informed. Besides, the hospital authorities should have got free maintenance from the company after the machine developed a snag for the first time,” said Sudershan S. Pal, scientific officer, UEPPCB.

Interestingly, the hospital authorities maintain that the file containing information on the machine is missing and as such they were unable to get the repair work done.

“The facility was installed by the Uttarakhand State Council of Science and Technology (UCOST) during the tenure of the former Principal Superintendent (PS) of the Doon Hospital and even the files are missing,” said Dr RS Aswal, PS, Doon Hospital.

Scientific officer Sudershan S Pal of UEPPCB says the pyrolyzer is an advanced facility which burns the hospital waste without the use of kerosene.

“The plasma pyrolyzer proves to be a better option than the incinerator, burning even small quantities of waste to ashes,” he said.

Dehradun, June 4
The atmosphere at the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) remained volatile with the members of the Safai Karamchari Sangh (SKS) raising slogans against the Uttaranchal Sanitary Workers Association (USWA) today.

The members of the association sat on a dharna for the second day today.

Inderjeet, president of the SKS, and another leader Chanderkant Kala alleged that the members of the USWA were corrupt, greedy and traitor and demanded to throw them out of the DMC premises.

Inderjeet alleged that it was due to the USWA that the dates announced for election of sanitary workers’ body by the ‘mukhya nagar adhikari’ for June 15 was stalled.

Kala charged the leaders of the USWA of taking arbitrary decisions and behaving like autocrats.

However, president of the USWA Somu Selwan said, “Had the sanitary workers wished election in all these seven years, these would have been held long ago. No one can stop them”.

He added that seven years ago, the group led by Kala had won the election of the sanitary workers’ body but given to the wide “corruption prevailing in his union”, they were finally barred from participating in the election process.

“Kala, Inderjeet and others are not sanitary workers of the DMC. They are outsiders. Seven years ago they were allowed to participate in the election. After winning the election, they extorted money from daily wagers in lieu of giving them jobs in the DMC. People were so fed up with their leadership that it was decided not to allow them. Now outsiders are not permitted to participate in the DMC sanitary workers' election,” Selwan said. He alleged that the MNA came under their influence and announced the election date. But when he was apprised about the real situation, he stalled the election process.

Kala said the USWA was staging the dharna because they wanted to “deviate the focus” from the issue of election. 

Dehradun, June 4
People for Animals, Uttarakhand, member-secretary Gauri Maulekhi today met the Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Ranbir Singh, with three farmers of Dehradun who have suffered major losses because of the Emu Ponzi Scheme.

Seeking the Principal Secretary’s intervention for immediate stopping of the breeding of emu, Maulekhi said the breeding of emu should be stopped till such a time as the viability of this business could be conclusively proved.

She pointed out that since the government had failed to protect the farmers from allegedly "fraud" companies despite having prior knowledge of the ponzi scheme, the farmers should be reimbursed for their loss.

“Uttarakhand has more than 100 emu farms, mainly in Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar. New farms are coming up in Tehri and Pauri. Ignorant farmers are being fooled by South India-based companies. The Uttarakhand government has so far only been passing the buck and shifting the blame,” Maulekhi alleged.

The three affected farmers were Subodh Raturi from Bhaniawala, Gaurav Kumar from Resham Majri and Ashok Vardhan from Raipur. They alleged that no FIR had been lodged as yet and they had not been compensated so far.

Dehradun, June 4
An award ceremony of the passing out course of 132 regular and parallel courses was held in the Khetarpal auditorium of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) here today. Commandant, IMA, Lt Gen Manvender Singh gave away awards to outstanding Gentlemen Cadets,who excelled in various fields during their pre-commission training at the academy.

In his brief address to the Gentlemen Cadets, the Commandant congratulated them for successfully completing their training at the IMA which, he said, was a difficult, arduous, challenging, taxing and fraught with risks and dangers. He also wished them good luck and success in life.

Lina Mathews, wife of Maj Gen Bobby Mathews, Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor, IMA, released the IMA journal-- Spring Term-2013-- on the occasion.

Gentlemen Cadets, during their course of training at this premier institution, are adjudged in various fields and are awarded according to their performances.

These awards are conferred in recognition of their work and dedication to achieve excellence and perfection.

They are adjudged in individual as well as group activities, which is an essential component of the military training.

Among those awarded were Battalion Under Officer Shubham Tiwari, who was honoured with the JAT Regt Silver for being adjudged the best GC-in-officer. Coy Sergeant Major Jay Kant Mishra was honoured with the Brigade of the Guards Medal for being adjudged the best GC in service. Senior Under Officer Rajveer Singh was honoured with the Pollock Silver Medal for standing first among those GCs getting commissioned into Arty, Signal and Engrs. The Raj RIF Trophy was awarded to Satya Prakash Mishra for standing the best GC in weapon training.

The Sikh Regt Medal was awarded to Battalion Under Officer Vikash Kumar for being adjudged the best sportsman. The prestigious Army Commander Banner was given to Sangro company.

The Commandant's IMA Banner Coy was won by Chushul company.

Dehradun, June 4
The Doon University authorities today issued a show-cause notice to the vice-president of the Doon University Chattra Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti (DUCASS) asking her to depose before the committee for disciplinary action.

The disciplinary action comes in the wake of memorandums submitted by Barkha Mathur, vice-president, DUCASS, against scrapping of MPhil Economics course, which was advertised in the prospectus for the academic session 2013-2014. The DUCASS members are demanding the restoration of the course.

In another decision, Doon University Vice-Chancellor VK Jain today removed the head of economics, Sikha Ahmad, and appointed Professor Kusum Arunachalam as the new head of the School of Social Sciences.

The decision of the administration to appoint someone from an unrelated department as a temporary head of the department of economics raises serious questions about the intentions of the administration.

However, the samiti said her removal was just an eyewash to divert the attention of the DUCASS from the main issue.

According to rules of the university, the senior most member of the department should be made the in charge of the department. The DUCASS demanded that the promise made in the admission prospectus be respected and MPhil economics course should be started as soon as possible. 

Dehradun, June 4
The Shiv Sena has sought 80 per cent employment for the locals in industries being set up in the state.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Uttarakhand in charge of the Shiv Sena, MP Chandrakant Khare, alleged that both the BJP and the Congress had befooled the people of the state and the problem of unemployment had only aggravated in the past few years.

Chandrakant said decreasing population in the hill districts of Uttarakhand, as per the latest census report, revealed that migration from hills continued unabated.

He said so-called development in the hilly areas of the state was only on papers. He said the Shiv Sena would soon launch an agitation in the entire state in aid of unemployed.

He also favoured green bonus for Uttarakhand taking into account the state’s contribution in safeguarding the greenery of the state.

Responding to queries, he admitted that the Shiv Sena was in alliance with the BJP in the country on the issue of Hindutva.

Uttarakhand Shiv Sena president Gaurav Kumar was also present at the press conference.

Dehradun, June 4
An organisation of Chipko agitators today demanded Bharat Ratna for Gaura Devi, a tribal woman from Uttarakhand acclaimed for her pioneering role in the unique movement of the 1970s for environmental protection.

The Chipko movement was launched in the mountainous region of Uttarakhand, which was earlier part of Uttar Pradesh.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the eve of World Environment Day, Chipko Movement Memorial Foundation convener Ramraj Badoni said conferring Bharat Ratna posthumously on Gaura Devi would be a fitting tribute to the woman, who led a group of women of her village in the movement.

Devi and her associates clung to trees as a symbolic gesture to save them from being felled on March 26, 1974, Badoni said.

Gaura Devi's novel method of Van Satyagraha hogged international headlines and even the movement came to be named after this unique way of protest, he added.

Drawing parallels between Devi and Wangari Mathai of Kenya, who launched the Green Belt movement in Africa in 1977 to stop progressive degradation of forests, Badoni said just like Mathai was conferred Nobel Prize, the country’s highest civilian honour should be conferred on Devi.

Badoni also demanded the freedom fighter status for those who participated in the Chipko movement at the grassroots.

He said many agitators suffered police atrocities and had to go jail to save the forests during the agitation, but they seemed to have been forgotten.

Badoni said such agitators should be identified and given the same facilities as enjoyed by freedom fighters. — PTI

Dehradun, June 4
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today met state movement activists at Uttarakhand Niwas, Delhi. He asked them to support the development of the state. He said the cooperation of activists living in various parts of India or abroad would benefit the state. He said the martyrs and activists would always be honoured as they had struggled for the creation of the state.

He said the dreams of the martyrs would be fulfilled by the government. He declared that from among all activist organisations of Delhi, the names of two people from each organisation should be given so that a coordination committee could be formed to resolve the problems of the activists.

He said that in July, an official would be posted in Delhi who will hear the problems and convey them to the state government.

In October 2013, a seminar of non-resident activists from all over India is to be organised.

Activists from Delhi, Ghaziabad and Faridabad attended the meeting.

Among them were Pooran Singh Dangwal, senior activists Prem Sundriyal, D.S.Rawat (chairman of Uttarakhand Janata Sangharsh Morcha), K.Pant (senior vice-chairman of Uttarakhand Andolankari Congress), B.M. Upreti (chairman, Rajya Lok manch) ,Jagdish Negi (chairman of Uttarakhand Jan Morcha), K.S.Pandey and Suresh Nautiyal (Uttarakhand Chintan), Karan Butola, Rameshwar Goswami (Uttarakhand Mahasabha), I.S.Rawat and Nandan Singh Rawat, Bali Manral, R.P.Pokhrial (USSS), Pratap Shahi (UKD), L.R.Bhatt, Manmohan Shah,and Shiv Singh Rawat, S.K. Sharma (Delhi BJP), Uma Joshi, Jyoti Setia and Prema Singh. The meeting was presided over by P.S.Dangwal and conducted by Congress spokesperson Dhirendra Pratap.

Dehradun, June 4
Since the creation of the state, promotions in the Department of Ayurveda have not been carried out and with the impending retirement of the Director-General, Ayush, Dr Pooja Bhardwaj, soon, the department is expected to remain rudderless if the promotions at the level of Additional Director are not done.

Since the creation of the state, promotions at the level of medical officers have not taken place. For the last few years, the process had got stuck due to frequent court cases.

Now, when the court cases are over, the department is waiting for orders from the government to set the process going.

Even at the level of the activities, the Department of Ayurveda seems to have been left behind.

Ayurved University has not started functioning yet though the government has given it recognition.That the Ayurved Research Centre at Charak Danda is facing hurdles (Kotdwar) too seems to have been forgotten. 

Mussoorie, June 4
Parents of the Class IX students studying in a convent school here have alleged that their children are unnecessarily being harassed by the school administration.

In a complaint filed with the District Magistrate, Dehradun, they alleged that the school principal since her inception had been ostracising students and harassing parents on one pretext or other.

They said in a recent incident when a starter was stolen from the class, the principal demanded Rs 100 from each student as punishment. When students failed to bring the penalised amount, the principal did not allow them to sit in the exams. The parents rushed to the school to enquire about whole matter. After a long discussion, it was decided that students could pay the amount later, but by then students had lost 20 minutes of their exam.

Meanwhile, parents have demanded an enquiry so that punitive action could be taken against the school authorities. Many parents believe that since the school had been converted into a day school from the residential one, the administration was not showing any interest in running the school. They alleged that the school being at prime location, the school administration was trying to sell it to private players at exorbitant price by shutting down the school.

SDM Mussoorie NS Dangi said he had received one such complaint and was sending it to the District Education Officer for further investigation. The school management was however not available for comments on the issue.