Doctors to boycott OPDs from Monday
Seek implementation of DACP
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 4
Rejecting the olive branch offered by Uttarakhand Minister for Health Surinder Singh Negi yesterday, members of Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS) Association (Uttarakhand) today decided to proceed with their three-day OPD boycott call beginning from Monday, to press for the fulfilment of their three main demands, including implementation of Direct Assured Career Progression (DACP).

At a meeting held today at Doon Hospital, the doctors categorically stated that the government should commit itself to the implementation of DACP. ''It is a long pending demand. In the past the successive governments which came to power in the state promised to fulfil our demand but they later went back on their promise. Once the DACP is implemented, the doctors would manage to get promotions after four years, nine years, 13 years and 20 years of service. This would improve the service conditions of the doctors and make the government service attractive even for young doctors who have been increasingly shunning the government sector,'' said Dr BS Jangpangi, president, PMHS.

The other demands include framing of a transparent transfer policy and immediate promotion for doctors who belong to the 2000 batch to the post of Joint Director.

In the event of boycott by the doctors from January 6, the emergency and postmortem services would go on uninterrupted.

Meanwhile, as the nurses all across the state have also been discharging duties in the afternoon shift. The problem is expected to turn serious on Monday when doctors would not be available for outdoor consultation all across the hospitals in the state.

To tackle the situation the government may look into a host of options, including imposition of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), which would have to be carefully deliberated upon by the political bosses.

Commuters harassed as taxi-jeep unions block traffic at Suvakholi
Protesters threaten to block traffic in Mussoorie today
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, January 4
Angry protests by members from several taxi-jeep unions over the government’s decision of making the Anti-Breaking System (ABS) mandatory for Max jeeps and taxis plying in the hills continued, as the protesters raised slogans and blocked traffic at Suvakholi on the Mussoorie-Dhanaulti-Chamba road here today.

The union members used their vehicles to block the road at Suvakholi around noon and stopped the vehicles bound to Uttarkashi, Dhanaulti, and Chamba.

Worst-affected with this strike were commuters who had a harrowing time as they had to wait for several hours at Suvakholi due to the protest by the Max jeep-taxi unions.

The union members criticised the state government and said the union members had served selflessly during the mid-June natural disaster by carrying relief materials on voluntary basis to remote areas risking their lives, but the government instead of rewarding them was bent upon rendering them jobless by imposing the ABS on their vehicles.

Secretary of the Thatyur Max jeep-taxi union speaking on the occasion said the government was trying to render the taxi owners jobless by imposing a system, which would only benefit the company involved in installing them.

He further said installation of ABS cost around Rs 40,000, which was out of reach for most union members who comprised mainly of unemployed youth who had purchased their vehicles through loans received under the Veer Chandra Garhwali Yojna. He added the union demanded a rollback and also asked the government to increase the permit validity from nine years to 15 years similar to their counterparts in the plains of the state.

The union members also said they would block the traffic at zero point in Mussoorie on Sunday, and in other areas of the hills till their demands were not met.

Tourists and local commuters who were caught in the milieu were a harrased lot as most vehicles run by the union were off-road from the past couple of days.

Mahavir Singh, a villager from Thatyur, said they were facing immense problems due to the strike. “I had to carry a patient from the village to Suvakholi, in the absence of taxis that are the lifeline of the hills. If the strike continues, patients in the village will have to suffer the consequences.”

Manmohan Singh Mall, former Congress Municipal Corporation President from Mussoorie, said he would speak to the CM about the problem being faced by the jeep-taxi owners and suggested that the government should either subsidise the rates for installing the ABS system as most of the taxi-jeep owners could not afford the cost of installing the ABS system.

Their demands

• Rollback of the Anti-Breaking System order
• Increase in permit validity period from 9 to 15 years

Government plans to raise pensions of elderly, widows
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 4
The Uttarakhand government will bring a proposal for increasing the pensions of senior citizens, widows and handicapped persons of the Department of Social Welfare in the upcoming Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said today.

“All the three monthly pension schemes would be hiked so as to bring a parity. The quantum hike would be discussed during the upcoming Cabinet meeting,” Bahuguna said today at the end of the review meeting of the Department of Social Welfare and Department of Transport.

Under the old-age pension, senior citizens receive a monthly pension of Rs 400, widows Rs 400 (above 18 years by the state government and Rs 500 by the Central Government for those in the age group of 40-60 years). Handicapped persons receive a monthly pension of Rs 600 .

Sources claim that government plans to disburse Rs 700 as the pension amount under the three pension schemes.

Similarly, it was decided to revise the annual income eligibility criteria for the members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes desirous of seeking loan from the Finance Corporation set up for members of SC and ST communities. “Earlier, individuals with an annual family income of Rs 15,000 could apply for the loan. Now we have raised the limit to Rs 1 lakh,” said Vijay Bahuguna. The beneficiaries can avail loan amount up to Rs 7 lakh at 6 percent interest.

He said that the decision had also been taken to immediately fill the vacant posts in the state SC and ST commission and state OBC commissions.

The Uttarakhand government also decided to increase the inter-city connectivity by pressing Volvo buses into service. “These Volvo buses would be pressed into service between Dehradun and Haldwani, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar and other cities,” said Chief Minister Bahuguna.

Expressing satisfaction with the functioning of the department, Bahuguna said that against the target of Rs 320 crore for the ongoing financial year, the department had achieved a target of Rs 275 crore.

Champawat district demands scheme for construction of toilets
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 4
A scheme to construct more rural toilets in Champawat district has been sought under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), as the World Bank’s scheme that helped in the construction of these toilets is concluding in June this year. Champawat district’s Water and Sanitary Committee was informed of this development today.

Addressing the meeting, Shyam Sunder Singh Pangti, Chief Development Officer (CDO) of Champawat, said out of 49,209 families in the district, only 33,696 families had their own toilets, while the rest continued to live without proper toilets and sanitation facilities.

The CDO said, “We have planned the construction of the remaining toilets under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, in the district as the World Bank scheme is wrapping up from the district in June.”

District manager of the Swajal project DK Palaria announced at the meeting that the project had constructed over 290 drinking water kiosks for the villagers in the district during the tenure of the World Bank project.

Pangti said, “We have ordered Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam officials to end the construction of all the required toilets in coming days as the World Bank scheme is wrapping up from the district.”

The meeting also approved 18 drinking water schemes in the district under the World Bank scheme that are to be completed before the culmination of the plan and sanctioned a sum of Rs 4.54 crore for Dhura village cluster in the district for the construction of drinking water kiosks.

Students resent teacher’s transfer, block highway
Tribune News service

Mussoorie, January 4
Students of Government Graduate College, Nainbagh, in Tehri Garhwal district today blocked traffic on the Delhi-Yamunotri Highway for several hours in protest against the decision of the state Education Department to attach an economics teacher to Government College, Barkote.

People travelling to Janki Chatty in Yamunotri and several other villages were stranded for several hours due to the road blockade.

Babi Singh, a leader of the Nainbagh Government Graduate College Union, said they had at a meeting held with the Education Department officials demanded that the economics teacher should not be transferred to Barkote. However, the economics teacher was transferred, forcing us to block traffic.

He warned the Education Department that they would continue their protest till the teacher concerned was not transferred back to the Nainbagh college. Some students said the economics teacher was doing a good job in the Nainbagh college and his absence would affect the studies of poor students.

We will make Doon a garbage-free city: MAD
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 4
MAD (Making a Difference), a group of socially awakened young volunteers, made a New Year resolution to make Dehradun clean and a garbage-free city.

“We have drafted an agenda for 2014 and we are planning to go for targeted and specific operations. The group intend to make the Neshvilla Road as their laboratory for testing the change, which will include intensive awareness programme that goes on simultaneously with the clean-up campaigns and door-to-door visit campaign covering the entire locality,” said Abhijay Negi, member the MAD.

The members of the group will also meet the Mayor and other stakeholders to discuss strategies to make the Neshvilla Road cleaner and a better place to live.

In a bid to garner more support for their campaign, a group was also set to visit Janta Durbar, organised by the Chief Minister at his residence on Sunday.