Dehradun, December 16
With the entire opposition continuing their boycott on the second day of the assembly session here today, Uttarakhand government passed the controversial Bill bringing out as many as 54 government positions of chairmen and vice-chairmen of various boards and committees out of the purview of the Office of Profits Act in the state legislative assembly without any "hurdle".

The matter was highly controversial in wake of the fact that the Congress had made this as a major issue against the Khanduri government. But with opposition boycotting the session, the government found today an ideal opportunity to get it passed by a voice vote.

During the previous Tiwari regime, more than 200 such positions were given to party legislators and leaders. This became a major political issue in the February 2007 assembly elections and was exploited well by the BJP.

However, in a bid to please annoyed party legislators, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen B.C.Khanduri (retd) had recently announced to take 54 such positions from the Office of Profit Act.

Meanwhile, the other major issue that dominated the proceedings of the question hour today was the pathetic state of the health department in Uttarakhand.

In a written question by Congress MLA Amrita Rawat, health minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' replied about the vacant posts of the doctors, pharmacists and ANM and also about the steps being taken to fill the vacant posts.

The reply brought to light startling revelations as 953, 71 and 129 posts of the doctors, pharmacist and ANM respectively are lying vacant. "We will fill the vacant posts soon," said Dr Pokhriyal.

Thereafter, UKD MLA Pushpesh Tripathy fired a volley of questions on the health minister. While stating that medical facilities in the state are in a shambles, he asked the minister about the action which was being initiated against quacks operating in Uttarakhand.

He also pointed out that since there is a shortage of the physicians, the quacks are flourishing. Dr Pokhriyal in his reply claimed that action had already been initiated against 158 quacks.

When asked by a legislature about the non-availability of a person to operate the MRI installed at Doon Hospital for more than a year, the minister was reluctant to respond saying, "The question is not related to the questions listed for the discussion in question hour."

However, when the speaker Harbans Kapoor said that it was an important matter and asked Dr Pokhriyal to reply, the minister said that process was on to make it operational under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

"The government provides medical reimbursement to the BPL families for undergoing health treatment for certain specific earmarked hospitals.

The BPL families should be given the privilege to get treatment from any hospital because in case of emergency, it is practically not possible to get treatment at the earmarked hospital only," said Pushpesh.

Apart from health related issues, the issue of providing basic facilities at the religious places in Uttarakhand, parking facility at Gori Kund and Kalimath, vacation of illegal possession on government land by a private firm near Tehri reservoir and development of tourist places yet to be explored figured during question hour.

Dehradun, December 16
The police today canecharged and used water cannons to disperse “shiksha mitras” and “shiksha acharyas” who were holding a protest outside the state assembly.

Although several teachers sustained injuries, as many as three fell unconscious. Some of the injured have been admitted to Doon Hospital.

“The brutality of the police could well be gauged from the fact that male cops beat up lady teacher mercilessly,” alleged one of the protesting teachers.

While “shiksha mitras” are staging protests for their absorption as assistant teachers in the state primary schools, the “shiksha acharyas” are agitating for better pay and perks.

The “shiksha mitras” gathered outside the assembly in the morning and started raising slogans against the state government.

“We wanted to hand over our memorandum of demands to some administrative official. But despite our repeated requests, the cops did not convey our message to the authorities,” alleged Gulab Chand Ramola, state president of Uttarakhand Shiksha Mitra Mahasangh.

Angered by this, some of the teachers tried to march towards the Vidhan Sabha by jumping the barricades. Acting swiftly, the police personnel present in large numbers tried to disperse the protesters.

Later, cops used water cannons to disperse the agitated teachers and finally resorted to lathicharge. The worst sufferers were “shiksha acharayas”, as the police did not spare them despite the fact that they were just sitting on a dharna.

Meanwhile, strongly flaying the lathicharge, state Congress chief Yashpal Arya said: “The brutal lathicharge on the peacefully protesting teachers has exposed the fascist face of the BJP-led state government.”

Announcing that the Congress will raise the issue strongly on the floor of the state assembly, Arya, after meeting the injured teachers at Doon Hospital, added: “Besides increasing the salary, the previous Congress regime had provided a lot of facilities to teachers. But the present government is only suppressing their voice.”

Later in a statement issued on behalf of Atrya, state Congress media incharge Suryakant Dhasmana said the Congress would stand by the protesting teachers.

Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat and former Rajya Sabha MP Harish Rawat also met the protesting teachers and assured to take up their genuine demands with the ruling party.

He asserted that both the teachers and employees would continue with their agitation till their pay concerns were addressed.

Dehradun, December 16
Despite the buoyant mood of Congress workers following the party’s win in three state assembly elections, senior Uttarakhand Congress leaders are busy working against each other.

Congress workers had participated in large numbers in the 'jail bharo' agitation on December 13 against the policies of the BJP state government.

Harish Rawat, former state Congress chief, along with leader of opposition Harak Singh Rawat, today went to Jaipal Jatav, his protégé, who has been expelled from the party by the present party state chief Yashpal Arya.

Jatav has been sitting in front of the state assembly on an indefinite hunger strike to press for various demands of the Scheduled Caste population of the state.

Harish Rawat, who was also accompanied by leaders of his own group, persuaded him to break his fast.

The move by Harish Rawat was seen as a counter to the successful 'jail bharo' agitation led by Arya.

Harish Rawat, who runs a parallel group in the state Congress, was conspicuous by his absence in the 'jail bharo' programme but his presence to extend support to an alleged expelled leader shows the fault lines in the state Congress.

Earlier this month, the Harish Rawat group, in an act of defiance, had also participated in a convention organised by Jaipal Jatav at Rishikesh despite warning by the party’s state disciplinary committee.

However, Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya tried to downplay the act of defiance by senior party leaders and legislators belonging to Harish Rawat faction.

“Party leaders can attend any programme organised by an individual or private organisation held for social causes. But that was not an official party programme," said Yashpal Arya.

As Arya is a senior Dalit leader, Harish Rawat group wants to embarrass him by extending support to an expelled party office-bearer who is also a Dalit and who was protesting for the Dalit cause.

Mussoorie, December 16
A service was held in the Methodist church here to pay homage to John Lang on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

This service is a part of a week-long event being organised by the Press Club of Mussoorie as a mark of respect for Lang, a distinguished journalist of his era.

Jai Prakash Uttarakhandi, president of Press Club said, “John Lang will be remembered as a fearless journalist who took on the British empire and criticised their oppressive policies towards Indians.”

O.P. Uniyal, president of the Nagar Palika, hailed Lang’s contributions in India's freedom struggle as a journalist and as a lawyer.

"Although we have attained independence from British colonial rule but now journalists need to fight for giving us freedom from corruption, terror and other societal evils," Uniyal said.

Jabar Singh, secretary of Press Club said: “Lang was an unsung contributor to the Indian freedom struggle.”

He added that Lang was an exemplary journalist who always stood for the truth. “The present day journalists should follow his footsteps,” he said.

Lang, a journalist, barrister, writer, scholar and inveterate traveler, is remembered as a true friend of India.

He is most well-known for contesting a lawsuit on behalf of Rani Laxmibai opposing the annexation of Jhansi by the British under doctrine of lapse introduced by Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor General of India.

Although, it is another matter that despite Lang's best efforts the Rani Laxmibai lost this petition in the Calcutta High Court.

Born on December 19, 1816 ,in Australia, John Lang was a champion of human rights. After migrating to India he started a popular newspaper, in 1845, called "The Mofussilite", which often took a critical line against the East India Company.

He was even imprisoned after being convicted of defaming a Company officer in his newspaper. Later, Lang migrated to Mussoorie in 1858 and started publishing his paper from here. He died under mysterious circumstances on August 20, 1864.

Dehradun, December 16
The state unit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) today slammed the BJP government for playing a cruel joke on farmers by announcing an increase in sugarcane price by a mere Rs 3 per quintal.

Party members demanded parity with the price announced by Haryana government. Sugarcane development and sugar industry minister Madan Kaushik had announced the increase on the floor of the house on the opening day of the winter session of the state assembly, amid vociferous protest by BSP and Congress legislators.

The sugarcane growers will now get Rs 143 and Rs 148 per quintal on normal and early season varieties for 2008-09.

“If at all the government was sincere towards the sugarcane growers, it should have fixed the price at Rs 165 and Rs 170 as has been done by the Haryana government,” said state unit president of SP and former MLA Ambrish Kumar.

He deplored the government apathy towards farmers who are yet to be paid arrears for the last year.

Terming the government decision as belated, he said the farmers were compelled to go for distress sale of their produce to prevent delay in sowing of wheat.

In the process they were left to the mercy of private sugar mills, as they could not store sugarcane, like wheat and rice, while awaiting the announcement of price.

He also blamed the sugar mills for delaying crushing, which normally begins in the first week of November.

“It created a situation in which they paid arbitrarily to the distressed farmers that caused a loss of about Rs 150 crore to them,” he said.

The SP leader visualised serious fallout of the sugar industry in the state on account of government’s failure to announce timely and remunerative price for sugarcane.

“It is due to this that the area under sugarcane in the state has decreased by 20 per cent,” he said while predicting a further decrease if the government failed to rectify its policy.

“In that case, the mills are likely to become non-viable in the future,” he said, while informing that his party would make it an issue during the coming LS election. Notably, there are six government-run and four private mills in the state.

Haridwar, December 16
Gurukul University romped home with a 3-1 win over Kurukshetra University in the final here today to win the North Zone Inter-University Hockey tournament.

The hosts were tipped underdogs but changed that tag into champions with sheer hard work and by employing strategies for every match chalked out by the coach Dhirender Chauhan.

With this win, the Gurukul boys will be a potent force in the upcoming National Hockey Championship also to be hosted by Gurukul University from December 24.

The match played at Dayanand stadium was packed with spectators and started with aggressive play with both teams resorting to attacks and counter attacks.

But Kurukshetra players succumbed to the final game pressure and the near precision game of the Gurukul team and in the end Gurukul won comprehensively with a margin of 3-1.

Later at the award winning ceremony chief guest Inspector General Ashok Kumar praised the level of players and urged them to focus on play.

On the success of Gurukul team, Vice Chancellor Prof. Swatantra Kumar gave a cash prize of one lakh to the winning team members.

He announced that if the team wins the forthcoming National University Championship Rs 1,50,000 will be given to the team.

Dehradun, December 16
Dehradun’s Gaurav Karnatak and Yogesh Pandey have stormed into the men’s singles final at the 9th Stag Hemlata Kohli Memorial Uttarakhand State TT Championship here today.

In the first semifinal, Gaurav (Dehradun) outclassed Sanjeev Khurana (Dehradun) 12-10, 11-8, 11-9. In the second semifinal, Yogesh Pandey (Dehradun) outshone Suraj Rana (Dehradun) 11-5, 8-11, 16-14, 11-8.

In the junior girls category, Vinita Chimwal (Dehradun) and Monika Sharma (Udham Singh Nagar) have entered the finals. In their first semifinal, Vinita defeated Sunita Chimwal (11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 9-11, 11-9).

In the second semifinal, Monika Sharma outclassed Sunit Rana (11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7). In the junior boys category, Akshay Dabral (Dehradun) will play with Akash Gupta (Dehradun) in the final.

Akshay Dabral beat Suraj Rana (Dehradun) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 and Akash Gupta
outclassed Mohit Bisht (Udham Singh Nagar) (8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6) in
the semifinals.

Dehradun, December 16
ICFAI defeated Institute Technology of Management (ITM) by two wickets in the league match of the 57th District Cricket League today at Survey Stadium here.

Winning the toss and electing to bat ITM scored 159 runs in their allotted 40 overs. Dalsher top scored with 48 runs that included six fours.

Harvinder, who made a breezy 19, supported him well. In reply, ICFAI reached the target with two wickets in hand. Akshay was the top scorer with 32 runs.