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Bahuguna lauds sacrifice of statehood agitators
Martyrs of Rampur Tiraha police firing remembered
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Social Welfare Dept to ensure girl students get study funds
Ways discussed for protection of cows
Uttarakhand Youth Cong elections announced
Gandhi still relevant: Himgiri Zee varsity
Inquiry ordered into illegal sale of 12 acres of land
Kumaon pays homage to Mahatma
UJVNL staff remember Gandhi
UKD chief lashes out at Cong, BJP
DM inspects road-widening operations
World Wildlife week celebrated
Disaster man-made, not supernatural: Sangathan
Demand for white paper on problems of state
Hold DPC meeting, HC tells govt
International Day of Older Persons observed
Blood donors honoured
CM gheraoed
Boycott by state staff on Oct 5
Decomposed body of youth found
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Bahuguna lauds sacrifice of statehood agitators
Dehradun, October 2 He was speaking at statehood martyrs' memorial at Rampur Tiraha in Muzzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh to pay homage to the statehood agitators who were proceeding towards the national capital and were waylaid by the Uttar Pradesh police, resulting in violence which claimed 11 lives of the agitators on October 2, 1994. Bahuguna, after paying homage at the martyrs' memorial, addressing a public meeting said that although the country celebrates October 2 as Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the apostle of peace, but that day is etched in the memory of Uttarakhand as a ''black day.'' He said that every effort would be made to develop Uttarakhand as per the dreams of the statehood agitators. He appreciated the local people of Rampur Tiraha who helped the statehood agitators who were brutalised by the UP police and gave shelter and help to them on that fateful day. He announced that the residents of the four villages near Rampur Tiraha would be taken to Kedarnath and Badrinath Dham pilgrimage by the Uttarakhand government. He had already sanctioned four milan kendras in these four villages which are under construction. Vijay Bahuguna also elaborated on the relief and rehabilitation works being undertaken by the state government after the natural disaster in June this year. Uttarakhand Irrigation and Revenue Minister Yashpal Arya, who is also Uttarakhand Congress chief, speaking on the occasion said that the sacrifice of statehood martyrs cannot be forgotten and true tribute to them would be to help build the state as per their hopes and aspirations. He profusely thanked the local villagers who had helped the statehood agitators on the night of October 2, 1994. Ajay Bhatt, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, also paid homage to the statehood martyrs and said that the state had been undergoing a crisis following the natural disaster and every effort should be made to rebuild the lives of the affected people. He hoped that with the start of Char Dham pilgrimage, pilgrims and tourists would again flock to Uttarakhand hills. Earlier, in the morning, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and state Congress chief Yashpal Arya also paid homage at the Shaheeid Sthal at the collectorate premises here. |
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Martyrs of Rampur Tiraha police firing remembered
Mussoorie, October 2 They gathered in large numbers and offered floral tributes at the portrait of the martyrs. It was two decades ago on this day when on the directions of then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Uttar Pradesh Police wreaked brutality on the agitators who were demanding a separate Uttarakhand state at Rampur Tiraha near Muzaffarnagar while on their way to Delhi for a protest rally. Seven persons were killed, 17 others injured and women agitators had to seek refuge in houses in the village. A discussion on the state of affairs of the state was also held at Shaheed Sthal where Jaiprakash Uttarakhandi, patron, Uttarakhand Andolankari Manch, said the dreams and aspirations for which the struggle for separate state was carried out had not been met as yet due to the self interest of the political class that had failed to deliver. He also said the agitators would start another movement from November 9 for the identification, honour and reservation of all those agitators who had been left out of the process. The renovation work at the Shaheed Sthal should be completed in six months, otherwise the agitators would be forced to take to the streets.
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Social Welfare Dept to ensure girl students get study funds
Dehradun, October 2 Based on the ground reports received by the Department of Social Welfare wherein girls either did not receive the incentive amount due to delay in selection or carelessness on the part of the District Social Welfare, the department is planning to plug “The convergence would create synergy between both the departments. It would help in the effective implementation of the scheme and ensure that the girls so selected receive timely incentives. If we start registering the girls at the time they fill the forms for intermediate examination, the beneficiaries would be able to utilise the timely benefits of the scheme. As of now the last date for registration for the scheme is around September and the FDs made by January,” said S. Raju, Principal Secretary, Department of Social Welfare. He said that in Pauri district alone an amount of Rs 4 crore remained unspent as the District Social Welfare Officer did not disburse the amount among the beneficiaries. The Gaura Devi Kanya Dhan Yojana rewards girls belonging to BPL families by making fixed deposit of Rs 25,000 per beneficiary on completion of intermediate, for a maximum period of three years. The scheme is open for girls belonging to BPL families for the General, SC and ST categories so that they are encouraged to take up higher education. In each district, a district
committee makes the selection whose members are officials. Further during the ongoing financial year, the district office of the Social Welfare Department was unable to rope in a single beneficiary from the Scheduled Tribes. According to the Department of Social Welfare, out of a total allocation of Rs 4455 lakh, Rs 147.25 lakh has been spent benefiting 589 beneficiaries. While there were around 224 beneficiaries from Scheduled Caste, 365 beneficiaries from General Category, no beneficiary was selected from Scheduled Tribes during this financial year. An allocation of Rs 205 lakh was made for the beneficiaries under this category but the amount has so far not been utilised. |
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Ways discussed for protection of cows
Dehradun, October 2 It was decided in the meeting to congregate proponents of cow protection and animal lovers in the larger perspective from the city and designate them with responsibilities regarding playing active role in containing cow smuggling. They also agreed on holding workshops for policemen in each district to sensitise them about cow protection. Swami Vishudhanad said:''I will pay Rs 500 per month to one such villager in each village of the state who will own the responsibility to keep tab on cow smuggling in his village. It is with the connivance of the gram pradhan that cows are smuggled in the night through these villages and taken to slaughter houses. With this method, we will be able to deal with this problem at its at root level.'' He said they were also preparing calendars to be distributed in each police post,which would have information about the legal provisions regarding Cow protection law of 2007. Uttarakhand in charge of People For Animals organisation Gauri Maulki said she had convinced officials in the Police Department to include a separate training session on animal protection, including cows, so that they could be sensitised about the importance of the subject during their training period only. Jairaj emphasised on the need to activate Society for the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) branches in each district. It was he who convinced the members to think in terms of the protection of all the animals, while specifically mentioning about cows. He suggested members to take legal provisions, chalk out welfare measures for animals to bolster their movement and make the authorities accountable in this direction. He said they must take pragmatic steps towards creating awareness and implementation of related laws on their own instead of banking upon intervention and assistance of state government. |
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Uttarakhand Youth Cong elections announced
Dehradun, October 2 Tyagi said the elections would be held in a fair and transparent manner. The election would be held under the supervision of members of Foundation for Advance Management of Elections. He said Pawan Baghal had been appointed zonal election officer. He disclosed that there are 89,645 voters, who would take part in the election. The elections were earlier scheduled for June 20 to 22, which were postponed due to flood disaster in the state.
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Gandhi still relevant: Himgiri Zee varsity
Dehradun, October 2 While addressing the students, Professor Purohit said the ideas of Gandhi had more relevance in the present times and we must try to profess and forward his ideas and principles. "At a time when all the small countries are fighting across the globe, the idea of brotherhood and non-violence of Gandhi can bring peace", he added. Vice-Chancellor of Himgiri Zee University Prof S C Bagadi said, "The younger generation should follow in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and must adopt honesty and truth in their life". Earlier, to commemorate Gandhi jayanti, college students recited the bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram'. |
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Inquiry ordered into illegal sale of 12 acres of land
Dehradun, October 2 In the entire deal, Kuber Floritech Limited and Kuber Planters were found guilty. However, the name of revenue officer who facilitated selling of the land, which once was owned by Welham Girls Society, is yet unknown. Nonetheless, the present Nayab Tehsildar, who was Apar Tehsildar when the irregularity took place, has been attached with collectorate office. SDM Sadar has been directed to conduct full enquiry into the matter. DM Pursuhottam said when the matter came to him, he found it suspicious as out of total 23.76 acres of land, which was once ordered to be seized by the Metropolitan Magistrate on August 19,1999, only 12 acres land was taken up for mutation purpose. On further scrutiny it was found that the orders of Metropolitan Magistrate with regard to 12 acres of land in question were found missing from the files. Assistant Commissioner of Police, forgery Section, Crime Branch, had also written in 1999 about the orders of Metropolitan Magistrate. He said the role of the then Apar Tehsildar appeared suspicious. ''The aforesaid land was shown sold out from Welham Girls Society in favour of Kuber Planters and Kuber Floritech. After this, no competent official undertook action regarding mutation for the last 14 years. Despite being fully aware that the mentioned land was directed to be seized by Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House, overlooking this fact the orders of mutation were cleared by the then Apar Tehsildar.'' He said seeing the gravity of the matter, he had directed SDM Sadar to conduct an inquiry into the matter with regard to the dubious connivance of Apar Tehsildar in the matter. Until the inquiry is over, the then Apar Tehsildar, who is now Nayab Tehsildar, has been attached with collectorate office. |
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Kumaon pays homage to Mahatma
Pithoragarh, October 2 In Almora, the celebrations began at the Gandhi Park of Chaughan Pata where the gathering was addressed by District Magistrate Akshat Gupta, veteran freedom fighter Devendra Sanwal and other Gandhian leaders. Schoolchildren carried out a "prabhat pheri" from the Nanda Devi Park on the occasion. "The prabhat pheri was attended by almost all the schools in the town and was organised by the District Education Officer," Stated a press communiqué released by the District Information Department, Almora. In Pithoragarh, a sarv dharma sabha was held at the Gandhi Chowk where several Gandhians and district-level officers gathered and garlanded the statute of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. The programme was attended by government officers, priests belonging to all religions, freedom fighters and social workers. "A spinning and knitting programme was also organised on the spot, which was assisted by the District Industry Centre," said NS Bisht, District Information Officer, Pithoragarh. A cross-country race for schoolchildren and plantation drives at various places were other attractions of the day. In Champawat district headquarters, several programmes were held. "We hoisted the national flag at 7.45 am at every office and gathered at the office to pay homage to the Father of Nation and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri," said DK Chaudhari, District Magistrate, Champawat. In Bageshwar district, after hoisting the flag and recital of Gandhian slogans, a cross-country race was organised by the District Sports Officer, which was attended by hundreds of schoolchildren. |
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UJVNL staff remember Gandhi
Dehradun, October 2 Many patriotic programmes were held on
this occasion. The speakers spoke on the lives of the two great persons and took a pledge to follow their principles. The Director Planning, Sandip Singhal, addressing the gathering, said the teachings of Gandhi were pragmatic even today. He called upon people to take inspiration from the path shown by the two leaders. The programme of the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited was emceed by assistant engineer Rakesh Kumar.
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UKD chief lashes out at Cong, BJP
Haridwar, October 2 After paying floral tributes at the shaheedi smarak in Rampur Tiraha, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, the chief of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Trivendra Singh Pawar, lashed out at the Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party governments for failing to realise the aspirations of the martyrs who fought for the statehood. The UKD president said paying floral tributes on October 2 had become a norm for the ruling party. Pawar said the night of October 2-3 ,1994, was still fresh in the minds of the people. “But how easily the Congress and the BJP have forgotten the bloodshed, rape, firing, pre-planned violence and forceful stopping of buses coming from Garhwal and Kumaon in Muzaffarnagar on that day," he said. "These parties have been ruling for the past 13 years. What they have done for the development of the state? The leaders just want a cabinet berth, security, money and social status,” said Pawar. The UKD chief described the recent flash floods as one of the worst natural disasters in recent times. In Rambada alone, more than 20000 people were stranded, but the Congress government said there were only 500 casualties and 5,000 were missing, he said. “This is quite shocking and shameful. How can the Congress government come up with such a false figures? CM Vijay Bahuguna also failed to act swiftly when the disaster struck, ” said Trivendra Pawar. He announced that the party would contest on all the five Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections. Uday Ram Semwal, secretary, UKD, said now the party wanted to regroup keeping in mind the Lok Sabha elections. He also blamed the Congress and the BJP for weakening the regional party. He said the parties fear that the rise of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal would only weaken their base. Semwal said the people of Uttarakhand wanted the UKD at the helm of affairs in the state politics. Party organisational secretary Anil Pokhriyal and youth wing city chief Lalit Mamgain were also present on the occasion. |
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DM inspects road-widening operations
Dehradun, October 2 It is to be noted here that though Surveyor General of India had given his symbolic approval to widen Raipur road by 20 metres on February 6 this year but he had also directed officials to make all efforts to save the observatory of Survey of India, as pointed out in the map prepared by PWD. The DM directed PWD officials to prepare the new proposal of the land of Survey of India Department, which is coming in the way. In the joint inspection, both the officials observed that to mitigate the loss to Survey of India, a curve would be created in the path from Survey Chowk to Kotwali which would protect the observatory. VC later visited the area around Lalpul at Patel Nagar. A proposal is in the pipeline to build 7-km four-lane elevated road from Haridwar bypass to Lalpul, Kanwali and Bindalpul to up to Chief Minister’s house. The cost will be Rs 300 crore. Sundaram directed Executive Engineer, PWD, to take up the work related to the first phase, Haridwar Pass to Lalpul ,which would cost Rs 100 crore. With this road coming into existence, heavy traffic on this road could be sorted out to a large extent. The VC also directed Executive Engineer, infrastructure wing of Irrigation Department, to build a safety wall around Rispana river near Shiv Mandir, MDDA Colony, Ajabpur Kala. A wire mesh had got washed away here in the disaster this year. Along with this, instructions were also passed on to build another safety wall on the broken embankment in front of the mosque in Bhagat Singh Colony. During inspection, secretary, MDDA, Banshidhar Tiwari, Executive Engineer, PWD, NK Pandey, and Executive Engineer, Irrigation, Prem Singh Panwar, were also present. |
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World Wildlife week celebrated
Dehradun, October 2 Project Officer, WWF-India, Zaara Kidwai, disclosed that school students performed a drama linked to wildlife conservation that was followed by a face painting competition. The students were evaluated and rewarded. Forest Department staff and school staff cooperated fully with WWF-India team during this programme. As many as 600 students, 20 people from the forest department and 25 teachers participated in the programme. Apart from Zaara Kidwai, Dr Harish Guleria, Dr Jatinder Kaur, Prashant Gaur and IP Bopanna were also present from the WWF-India. |
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Disaster man-made, not supernatural: Sangathan
Dehradun, October 2 He said the disaster was borne out of indiscriminate and random exploitation of natural resources to fulfil ''insatiable greed of well-off section of society.'' He said people of this section managed to remain safe while the poor had to suffer the onslaught of the tragedy. “People lost their home, livestock and family members in the disaster. They have no option but to migrate from their villages in search for livelihood. However, the state government is doing nothing to contain the migration.” He said several pertinent questions have arisen after the disaster, which include continuation of hill areas to remain deprived, inability of successive governments in providing relief in times of disaster in these pockets, exploitation of religion (char dham) to earn profits, role of NGOs’ in the relief works, capitalism v/s environment and reconstruction and rehabilitation. He said: “The state government must own the responsibility of the entire relief works ongoing in the state. The construction of roads, bridges and buildings should begin on note in the affected region. The government should declare ‘unemployment bonus’ for those who lost means of livelihood in the disaster. People should be exempted from loans or debts and given assistance of Rs 2 lakh to each affected. The state government should provide government job to each of those who lost earning family members and also arrange for the education of children in such families. The government should also carry out scientific evaluation of the damage triggered by hydropower projects. |
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Demand for white paper on problems of state
Pithoragarh, October 2 “While the memorandum in Almora was submitted to the district authorities by Uttarakhand Lok Vahini, it was submitted by Mahila Manch in Nainital, by CPI (ML) in Haldwani, by Lok Sangthan in Pithoragarh, Jan Manch in Bageshwar and in Pithoragarh district,” said Shamshar Singh Bisht, coordinator of Uttarakhand Lok Vahini. He said the memorandums submitted on behalf of social activists and intellectuals of the state demanded from the government to enact the Forest Rights Law, 2006, to give forest dwellers their right of livelihood on forest produces and enactment of constitutional amendment 73rd and 74th to give panchayats their rights in getting self reliant. “We have also said that only by the way of enacting these laws can the villagers be empowered to take care of the future disasters, as by neglecting these villages in distribution of relief and reconstruction package,
the heavy amount of money donated is to going into the middlemen’s hands,” he said. The memorandum said if there had not been army assistance during the disaster, the death toll would have gone higher as the government as well as the opposition was ruled by “groups of petty contractors who see only their benefit in every natural calamity”. “We want these provisions to be enacted in the state to save the people from further pity which falls on them every year.” Bisht added. The activists demanded from the government a white paper on its outlook on the subjects of mining, tunnels, construction methods of roads, use of blasting material in construction of roads, on methods of generating hydro electric energy, forest exploitation, construction of river flood areas, uncontrolled tourism and religious sojourns and on its preparation to tackle the changing treads of climate in the region. |
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Hold DPC meeting, HC tells govt
Dehradun, October 2 Acting on the plea filed by Assistant Director Dr JS Pangtey, the High Court ordered the government to immediately conduct a DPC meeting for the selection of DG is appointed. As of now the Directorate is being headed by acting Director GS Joshi, who is junior to Dr Pangtey. After Dr Yogesh Chand Sharma retired in August, instead of conducting the DPC meeting and appointing the senior most Dr Pangtey as the DG, Medical, Health and Family Welfare, the government appointed Dr GS Joshi as the officiating DG. Dr Pangtey is expected to retire in February 2014 and is therefore keen that the DPC meeting is conducted on time and therefore went to the court with his plea. This is not for the first time, a senior doctor has gone to the court with the plea for conducting DPC. In fact, due to reluctance of the government to conduct DPC on time, a practice of sorts has been established with at least two senior doctors who were contenders for the post of DG approaching the courts. |
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International Day of Older Persons observed
Dehradun, October 2 A function was held in Dehradun, in which social activist Rajneesh Goyal spoke on the importance of the day. He said youngsters should work for the welfare of elderly. Rajneesh Goyal distributed shawls,
sarees and salwar-kurtas to 64 persons on the occasion. Another speaker, Victoria Gyan of the YWCA, said the organisation was committed to the betterment of elderly. Sweets were also distributed at the function. Anis-ur-Rehman accorded the vote of thanks. Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand Senior Citizens' Welfare Association honoured Brig (retd) KG Behl, general secretary of the Federation of Senior Citizens,
RK Sharma, Yogacharya CP Oberoi, Yogacharya Anand Prakash and Sumitra Dhulia, a teacher,
for contribution in the social sphere. The Uttarakhand Senior Citizens' Welfare Association gave them the Uttarakhand Gaurav award. The award was presented by Ashok Aneja, divisional head, Punjab National Bank. Speaking on the occasion, Aneja lauded the effort of the senior citizens for taking up philanthropy work in their spare time. Saris and clothes were distributed among the needy and scholarships to poor children. The Uttarakhand Senior Citizens' Welfare Association also held special talk for the elderly on how they could remain healthy and secure by undertaking routine exercise. |
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Blood donors honoured
Dehradun, October 2 Dr GS Joshi, officiating DG of Medical Health and Family Welfare, gave away mementos to Harbhajan Singh on behalf of the Nirankari Mission (Mussoorie), Dr Anand Singh Uniyal, State PRO NSS, Dr Arunesh Parashar, coordinator, Dev Sanskriti University Haridwar, Lalit Sharma (Punjabi Sabha), Dr Smita Jha, IIT Roorkee, Dr Pankaj Jakhmola, Dr Charanjeet, Dr SN Nautiyal, Dr Prem Sainit, Dr Atul Joshi, Dr VS Pal MO, Doon Hospital, Dr Anup Dimri (USAC), Dr Anita Chauhan and others. Those who received commendation certificates included Dr Jaswant Bisht, Dr Ravi Bisht, Om Prakash, Saurabh Sehgal, SP Panthri and Dr Devinder Bhasin, Principal, DAV PG College. Additional Director Dr Meenakshi Uniyal said the State Blood Safety and USACS had been working to generate awareness about voluntary blood donation in the state. |
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CM gheraoed
Dehradun, October 2 The protesting activists demanded identification of statehood activists on immediate basis and equal pension for all activists who fought for separate state for Uttarakhand. Responding to their demands, the Chief Minister said that the government will look into their demands and their concerns will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting.
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Boycott by state staff on Oct 5
Dehradun, October 2 The president of the council Thakur Prahlad Singh said that the council was determined to ensure that the government fulfills the demands of the employees. ''In order to provide strength to our agitation, we have decided to boycott work on October 5. The employees have been asked to register their boycott call and support the cause,'' said Singh. Last week the employees had staged a rally and handed over the memorandum of demands to the Chief Minister. While giving details of the boycott programme, spokesperson of the council Arun Pandey said that the agitation being spearheaded by the council had received support from all the employees. ''On October 5, the employees would gather at the district headquarters to express their anger against the government while in the state capital, the employees would gather at the parade ground. On this day the employees would completely boycott work,'' said Pandey. |
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Decomposed body of youth found
Mussoorie, October 2 The police has recovered the body and sent it for a postmortem to the nearest government hospital in Mussooie. The deceased was identified as Vikrant Thakur, son of Gajendar Pal, a resident of 174/220 Karanpur, Dheradun. Family members of the deceased were also called from Dheradun who had confirmed the identity of the body. According to the family members they had filed a missing report of Vikant at Bindal police station in Dheradun on July 31. Police station in charge Vipin Chandra Pant said some women from Bhatta village who had gone to collect fodder in the bushes first saw the body and immediately called the police. At first the police was clueless about the identity, but when they searched in the bushes they found a scooter and an ATM card, along with driving licence lying there. The police is yet to ascertain the cause of the death and believe that prima facie the death might have been caused due to the accident. The police has begun further investigations in the case.
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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has said that the main priority of his Congress state government is to make the state as per the hopes and aspirations of the statehood agitators who sacrificed their lives for the creation of the separate hill state.
Statehood agitators paid tributes to the martyrs of the Rampur Tirah police firing that occurred near Muzaffarnagar on October 2, 1994 in a simple ceremony held at the Shaheed sthal near Jhoola Ghar here today.
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) that played a major role in the movement for statehood feels hurt as the martyrs who laid their lives for the cause of statehood have been forgotten.
After paying floral tributes at the shaheedi smarak in Rampur Tiraha,
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, the chief of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Trivendra Singh
Pawar, lashed out at the Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party governments
As part of World Wildlife Week celebrations, students of Government Inter College,
Raiwala, Dehradun, today participated in the quiz and face painting competitions which were organised by the
WWF-India. Project Officer, WWF-India, Zaara Kidwai, disclosed that school students performed a drama linked to wildlife conservation that was followed by a face painting competition.
