Dehradun, August 3
The Uttarakhand government will set up pre-fabricated shelters and ration storage stores at identified places for the people living in relief camps before the onset of the winter.

“We will set up pre-fabricated shelters along with ration stores at select places for providing relief to our people whose houses have been destroyed in the natural calamity,” said Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. He was addressing mediapersons after attending a meeting chaired by Ambika Soni, All India Congress Committee general secretary and in-charge of party affairs in Uttarakhand, here today.

He said the government had also asked the Centre for Rs 8,000 crore for undertaking redevelopment and resettlement work in the affected areas.

On the issue of permanent rehabilitation of the affected persons, the Chief Minister said the state government would soon come up with new norms in the rehabilitation policy to be placed before the Cabinet meeting. “We need to permanently rehabilitate villagers in safe areas for which new norms have to be laid down,” he said.

Another proposal regarding the payment of dues to farmers by private sugar mill owners would also be brought along with the payment of compensation to farmers for damage and loss of crop during the recent calamity.

The Chief Minister said the next of kin of those who went missing in flash floods would be given priority in jobs in the police and the revenue police. “I have also asked the departments to make employment programmes in the disaster-hit areas women-centric. Besides, women whose husbands have gone missing and persons handicapped in the disaster will be provided social welfare pensions.”

Earlier Ambika Soni chaired a meeting to take stock of the relief work. It was attended by Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat, Uttarakhand Finance Minister Indira Hriyadesh and other Cabinet ministers. 

Haridwar, August 3
The Kanwar mela administration has deployed special water police personnel, known as Jal police, at various Ganga ghats.

These Jal police personnel have emerged as life saviours for many Kanwariyas. This has come as a boon, as in the past few years, hundreds of Kanwariyas had lost their life due to slipping in the river water while taking bathe.

Since past 12 days, more than 24 Kanwariyas have been saved by the Jal police.

As per Superintendent of City Police Jagdeesh Singh Bhandari, special rescue and relief aid training has been given to these personnel, who are manning the river ghats from Rishikesh-Haridwar till Roorkee round the clock.

“Besides Jal police squad, comprising of Uttarakhand police personnel, help has also been sought from Bengal Engineers Group divers and Provincial Armed Constabulary expert divers during this Kanwar pilgrimage,” he added.

This step was taken keeping in mind the rising number of drowning incidents during the Kanwar fair at Ganga ghat.

“But now with Jal police deployment, every day at various stretches, they are saving at least 15 to 20 Kanwariya’s from drowning,” said Inspector Mahesh Joshi.

The mela administration has also sought help from the local professional swimmers who have also been deployed at various Ganga ghats including Braham Kund and Har-Ki-Pauri.

Jal police personnel had saved more than a thousand devotees from drowning during the four month long Maha Kumbh in 2010.

The Jal police also saved one Kanwariya from getting drowned yesterday. The Kanwariya’s gave a hug applause to the rescuing Jal police squad.

The water warriors prior to Kanwar fair were trained in the Ganga ghats.

Dehradun, August 3
The Dehradun police has installed 19 new CCTV cameras at sensitive places across the capital city and they are fully functional. The new surveillance system will serve as a major tool to control the menace of traffic rules violations and crime.

The control room for these 19 cameras is at the SSP office and the SSP himself is monitoring their working on large TV screens. Sensitive places like Tehsil Chowk, Rajpur Road, Railway Station gate, Dharampur vegetable market, Niranjanpur vegetable market and Premnagar are now under electronic surveillance.

SP, City, Jagdish Chandra told The Tribune that, “Now, we have improved the CCTV surveillance system, which will have better images and prove instrumental in improving vigilance in the city.”

Earlier 13 CCTV cameras were installed at Dilaram Bazaar, Darshan Lal Chowk, Clock Tower, Prince Chowk, Kuthal Gate, Jogiwala, Survey Chowk, Rispana Bridge, Saharanpur Road, ISBT Chowk, Tehsil Chowk, Vidhan Sabha and Asharodi in the city. About six or seven cameras encountered glitches just after installation in 2010 and those installed at Ballupur Chowk, Asharodi and Survey Chowk are not functioning even now.

Jasbeer Singh, DSP, Control Room, who was instrumental in the installation of new CCTV cameras, said, “This time we have laid a dedicated fiber network for these 19 CCTV cameras. Earlier 13 cameras used to run on the BSNL network that had poor service.”

“We have also put strict terms and conditions for after sale services in the tender this time so that the supplier company does not shy away from its responsibility and if it does so strict legal action could be taken against it,” he added.

E-Samvad Solutions, a Dehradun-based company, has installed the new CCTV cameras while the old CCTV cameras were installed by a Delhi-based company.

The police is also upbeat with the installation of new CCTV cameras. 

Mussoorie, August 3
Ganesh Joshi, MLA, Mussoorie, is livid at the non-utilisation of funds provided to the Municipal Post Graduate (MPG) College in Mussoorie which he had arranged after considerable efforts.

Joshi speaking to the media during a meeting with local officials held at his residence yesterday said that he had made arrangements for the upgradation and construction work of computer labs, a lavatory for girls, classes etc from fund amounting to Rs 80 lakh at MPG but the college administration had been unable to use the funds for the assigned purpose even after their release six months back, which is really unfortunate.

Joshi said that the college could have received a facelift if the funds were used in the stipulated time period but it had not been done so far due to unknown reasons.

He further said that he had also requested the Municipal Council which manages the college to intervene in the matter and expedite the work before the money lapsed due to non-use in the near future.

On the issue of beginning treatment work at the disaster- affected landslide zone near Company Garden, Ganesh Joshi summoned the forest range officer HC Mandola and enquired about the progress. Mandola, responding to the query of the MLA, said that a treatment project around Company Garden amounting to Rs 82 lakh had been prepared and was being sent for the approval of Government of India. The Karli Gad treatment project had been estimated to be around Rs 160 lakh and the proposal had been sent to the Government of India for approval.

Joshi directed the officials to speed up the process so that people could live without the fear of landslide in the area.

Speaking on the need of housing project in Mussoorie, he said that the MDDA had earmarked the place for constructing a housing colony but the clearance from the Forest Department was still awaited.

Joshi also said that he was working tirelessly to solve the problems of Mussoorie but was facing problems as his party was not in the government. However, he reiterated his commitment towards the people of the town and assured that he would work for the benefit of the people here tirelessly.

President of the Mussoorie BJP unit Roop Singh Kathait, vice-president Mohan Petwal, Kushal Rana, Anil Godiyal and others were also present on the occasion.

Haridwar, August 3
Various protests were held here recently against a hike in diesel and petrol prices by oil companies.

The BJP, the Samajwadi Party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and local outfits urged the Central Government to pressurise oil syndicates to rollback the decision.

Youth activists of the BJP staged a protest on the Devpura city inner road and burnt an effigy of the Central Government. District youth wing chief Harjeet Singh and state secretary of the Mahila Morcha Poonam Jha demanded the immediate rollback of the hike.

Sanjana Sharma, an office-bearer of the Mahila Morcha, said, "Despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being an economist and former Finance Minister, he has failed to check inflation."

Local traders also staged demonstrations at various places. Mridul Kaushik, chief of the Ranipur traders' association, said with an increase in petrol prices, the cost of commercial goods would also rise.

UKD youth wing city chief Lalit Mamgain said Uttarakhand was already bearing the brunt of the natural disaster. He demanded that oil companies should exempt the state from the price hike and instead give subsidy so that relief operations could be carried out on a large scale.

Veteran Congress leader BS Tejiyan, however, defended the Central Government saying it were oil companies that decided petrol hike and not the Union Government.

He said a rise in petrol prices per barrel in the international market and loss of hundreds of crores to oil companies made it imperative for the Centre to give the nod to the hike.

Dehradun, August 3
A delegation of the employees union of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) met Managing Director Rajesh Kumar and demanded regularisation of employees and the implementation of Assured Career Promotions (ACP).

The Managing Director assured the delegation that the orders passed by the government on the issues would be implemented in four-five days.

He said the cases of the third and fourth level employees would be scrutinised for the ACP.

"The employees who lost their jobs due to the damage to the tourist rest houses of the GMVN will be taken up as per their seniority in the list," said Kumar.

He added the remaining employees would be absorbed for some other tasks. He assured the delegation that the employees who did not get salary of July would soon be disbursed to them.

An amount of Rs 35 lakh has been released for the purpose. He said the provident fund and the gratuity of the employees would be released simultaneously.

The delegation included president of the union Purushottam Puri and members SP Pant, Rajesh Ramola, Ashish Uniyal, Dinesh Uniyal, Harender Kumar, Satender Sajvan, Baldev Ram Tamta and others.

Dehradun, August 3
The UKD faction led by Kashi Singh Airy today reconstituted its new central working committee and appointed Narendra Singh Rawat as its president.

The central working committee has been reconstituted after the merger of the Uttarkhand Jan Kranti Dal and the Uttarkhand Kranti Dal (Airy) recently.

A number of party workers have also been included in the working committee as general secretary, secretary, organisation secretary and publicity secretary.

On the question of the ongoing power struggle between the two factions over the control of the party affairs, Kashi Singh Airy said fight will be fought at the election commission level and the original UKD will get the recognition and the party symbol. 

Dehradun, August 3
An Investiture Ceremony was held at Aryan School on Saturday. Awej Raj Sumargi was made the Head Boy Captain and Priya Giri was made the Head Girl Captain.

Puru Pandit and Shiwangi Rathi were given an honour to be as the coordinators.

The house prefects chosen for all four Houses were Rajat Sharma and Urja Verma for Atharva House, Anadi Singh and Aarti Gupta for Rig House, Pravan Swarnkar and Jirapa for Sama House and Anish Berry and Sneha Khati for Yajur House.

Major General (Retd)TK Kaul and Col (Retd) NK Mahajan were the Guest of Honour.—TNS

Dehradun, August 3
The ongoing fight between the Nirman Nigam and the Sports Department over the newly renovated Pavilion Ground is affecting football players and sport lovers.

It was for the first time in the history of the 70-year-old Dehradun Football League that the event had to be postponed due to the non-availability of a football ground. The league matches were scheduled to start on July 28 but were deferred by the league organisers due to the non-availability of the ground.

It is to be noted that Pavilion Ground has been a centre of football matches in Dehradun for many decades and the annual football league used to be played here. But due to renovation work the league had to be shifted from Pavilion Ground four years ago. It is now played at the Survey of India stadium. But with the Survey of India increasing its charges manifold this year, the league organisers had to drop the venue from their list due to lack of funds.

“At present, we have no ground to organise the league and the government is apathetic towards the issue. Two government wings are fighting over the issue and the players are at the receiving end,” said Raju Rawat, secretary, District Football Association.

He also questioned the seriousness of the government on the issue of sports. “The Uttarakhand government has declared football the state game, but not even one football stadium has been constructed in the capital in 13 years,” he said.

The Sports Department had sanctioned Rs 82 lakh for the rebuilding of Pavilion Ground. Out of this, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation had promised to pay Rs 25 lakh on a condition that the government forms a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the renovation work. The government did not form an SPV and the renovation work was given to Nirman Nigam. The bone of contention is Rs 25 lakh that the Municipal Corporation is not paying, saying no SPV was formed for the renovation of the Pavilion Ground.

On the other hand, the Nirman Nigam is delaying the handover of the ground due to non-payment of its outstanding amount.

While speaking to The Tribune, District Sports Officer, Dehradun, Rajesh Mumgain, said, “All issues have been sorted out and the ground will be handed over to us within a week.”

He said at present, there were two factions in the football association and the ground could only be given to the accredited football association.

Now, it has to be seen whether the ground is handed over to the Sports Department on time and made available to the sportsmen for playing football for which it has been renovated. 

Dehradun, August 3
The IX Inter-house swimming competition of the Doon Cambridge School concluded today.

Students belonging to the four houses namely Andes, Kilimanjaro, Macdonell and Woodraoffe participated in the event.

Macdonell house won the competition and was awarded with the house trophy.

The swimming events included the medley relay, backstroke, freestyle etc. The awards and prizes were distributed in the presence of school Principal HK Chabbra.