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Eye on LS Elections
...Safai karamcharis can hope for better
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School students turn good samaritans
Sociology students demand marksheet
Jumbo scare
BEG thump Meerut XI
Nawab Cricket Academy win
Badminton: Puneet Bhatt enters final
Boxing: Two constables win bronze
Ever Wins outshine Royal Academy
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Eye on LS Elections
Dehradun, January 21 The government has accepted the demand of the state government employees to give them the benefits of grade pay as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The government has also extended the benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission to over 7,200 teachers and 4,000 non-teaching staff of government-aided schools. This decision will put an additional burden of Rs 900 crore on the state exchequer as arrears. Thereafter, the government will have to bear the cost of Rs 200 crore every year. Giving details of the decisions taken by the state cabinet, which met under the headship of Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri, chief secretary Indu Kumar Pandey said the government has accepted the second report of the pay committee, which was set up by the state government to suggest ways to implement the recommendations of the pay panel. “The state government has to pay Rs 4,000 crore in terms of arrears and increased salaries to its employees as per recommendations of the pay panel. And thereafter, the government will have to pay Rs 1,500 crore more annually,” he said. Besides this, Pande said the government has also approved Assured Career Progression (ACP) scheme in the hill state on the lines of the Centre. “Under the scheme, an employee will get the higher grade after completing 10 years of service in case no promotion is given during that period,” he said. Pande added that the cabinet has also approved the new parameters for Hill Development Allowance (HDA) and other incentives for the employees. Last year, Khanduri had announced to give pay scales according to the Sixth Pay Commission to its 1,63,000 employees and 60,000 pensioners with effect from September 1, 2008. Soon after, the employees of the state government were on roads demanding that they must be given grade pay, as per the recommendations of the pay panel. The State Employees Joint Council had even boycotted the work for three days from January 12 to 14. However, after state government assured the employees to look into their demands within 15 days, the employees postponed their proposed indefinite statewide strike. Finally, succumbing to the pressure of the employees and also keeping in mind the forthcoming general elections, Khanduri today accepted the demands of the employees. Due to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, Uttarakhand, which is already under a debt of more than 14,000 crore, will fast move towards a debt trap. To emerge out of the crisis, the state has even sought permission of the Central government for additional market borrowings of Rs 750 crore. The president of the State Employees Joint Council, Uttaranchal Dr Prahlad Singh expressed his happiness and thanked the state government for accepting their demand. “The government has taken a good decision, which is in the interests of more than one-and-a-half lakh employees,” he said. The spokesman of the Joint Employees Teachers Coordination Committee, Arun Pandey also lauded the government decision. He said that the bureaucracy should implement decision taken by the state government, as soon as possible.
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...Safai karamcharis can hope for better deal too
Dehradun, January 21 The decision to set up the commission was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) here today. The commission will suggest ways and means to deal with the problems of the ‘safai karamcharis’ engaged in the work of cleaning the towns and cities of the state. Since a majority of them belong to the Dalit community, the state government has decided to set up the commission to woo them before the Lok Sabha polls. Interestingly, Chief Minister Khanduri had earlier announced to set up such a commission before the civic elections held in the state in March 2008. Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the main opposition Congress has been trying to win over Dalit votes for the coming polls. Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya is a Dalit and had started a campaign to unite the Dalits of the state under the banner of the Congress under his leadership. He has already started a series of rallies in all district headquarters named as ‘Dalit Swabhiman Rallies’ to highlight the plight and problems faced by the community. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population in the state is more than 22 per cent making them a major chunk among voters. While, traditionally, this population had gone with the Congress but off late, the BJP, through its network of the RSS in the hills, have been able to win over a sizeable section of the SC/ST population. The Congress, under the leadership of a Dalit president, has been assiduously trying to maintain control over its vote bank. Interestingly, the Dalit population, which is in decisive strength in Haridwar district, has been voting for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the past two assembly elections. The party has won six out of the total nine assembly segments in Haridwar district in 2007 assembly polls. Banking on the strength of Dalit-Muslim combine voters, the BSP hopes to wrest the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat from the rivals. However, the ruling BJP has also been trying hard to keep its influence over Dalit voters, particularly in the hills. Uttarakhand Congress spokesperson Suryakant Dhasmana said that it was a welcome move to appoint a commission for ‘safai karamcharis’ but said that the attitude of the state government towards them has remained indifferent. “There are 2,000 posts of ‘safai karamcharis’ in the Dehradun Municipal Corporation but only 600 of them have been recruited. There is a ban on their recruitment.”
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Govt neglecting minorities, says madrasa samiti
Dehradun, January 21 The protesters accused the BJP-led state government of not implementing the various Central government schemes for the welfare of minorities. Addressing the gathering, Dr Sattar said that the previous Congress regime had set up Arbi Faarsi Madrasa Board and its office was also opened. “But the present government has not appointed any registrar for the board till date”, he rued. Dr Sattar added that in 2006, the Union government had issued directions regarding the appointment of the Urdu teachers in schools in various districts of Uttarakhand. “Even after 25 months, the Khanduri government has not done anything in this regard.” The protesters submitted a memorandum to Governor BL Joshi. Others who attended the dharna included Haji Ali Hassan, Sajjad Hussain, Hamid Hussain, Irshad Ali, Mohammad Shahid and Javed Qureshi. |
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School students turn good samaritans
Dehradun, January 21 Around 300 students have so far collected 1.5 quintal of newspapers. This quantum may hardly raise a thousand bucks but the spirit is indeed laudable. And especially so in view of passion with which they have responded to this idea of helping Sunny (19), the only son of a daily wager of the Clement Town locality. He had sustained small hemorrhages in the brain and multiple fractures in a road accident last November. The doctors had estimated the total cost of treatment to be around Rs 2 lakh. The poor family desperately needed money for the costly treatment and it got in touch with the school principal GIG Mann. Satisfied that it was a genuine case for help, he contributed funds from the school. “I shared the poor family’s plight with colleagues and decided to involve our students with an idea to make them realise how important it is to help others in distress in a way which may seem insignificant to others,” he said. The school asked every student to contribute five old newspapers. The extent to which the idea moved the little minds can be gauged from the response. Five newspapers was taken as the minimum limit, the majority brought more without asking. “There may be other kind souls but we at school did our bit to develop a moral value through this small gesture. That exactly is the reason that we asked students not to contribute money but newspapers,”
he added. |
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Sociology students demand marksheet
Dehradun, January 21 Sharma alleged that the “university has not conducted second-term examination for students of the sociology department of the 2007-2008 batch, putting their future at stake.” “Hundreds of students have yet to receive their marksheet.” “Due to such casual attitude of the university, they are unable to plan their career,” said Sharma. An ultimatum of five days to the university registrar was submitted by the protesting students. “In case our demands are not met, we will resort to an agitation,” warned Yashwanti Sharma. He was accompanied by a large crowd of NSUI workers. He assured the students that he would make every effort to ensure that their demands were met and their careers did not suffer.
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Jumbo scare
Haridwar, January 21 Last week, an elephant tusker had attacked farmers in Ajitpur in broad daylight, killing one of them and injuring three. Since then, the presence of elephants in various areas has increased. This week, elephants were seen on the main Haridwar-Najibabad road. Also, on the Rishikesh-Dehradun highway, elephants blocked traffic and destroyed crops, specially the sugarcane fields. The elephants reportedly enter the Katarpur and Missipur villages late at night, forcing the villagers to keep a vigil all night long. The forest department has intensified night patrol in these areas. Officials say that soon work on an electric fence will be started to keep away the tuskers. In the meantime, villagers have been directed to move in groups. Meanwhile, state sugarcane minister Madan Kaushik visited the family members of the deceased farmer, Prakash. He assured adequate compensation to the bereaved family. Experts feel that the mining work being done in the area dusk to dawn has resulted in the elephants turning violent. |
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BEG thump Meerut XI
Haridwar, january 21 In the second match of the day, Uttaranchal Police failed to utilise as many as eight penalty corners and lost by a solitary goal by DHA Bareilly. In the 12th minute, Farhat scored a field goal to score the lone goal of the match. The third match of the day was played between BEG Roorkee and Meerut Eleven in which Meerut was outclassed in every field of the game. BEG Roorkee played attacking hockey and scored eight goals. BEG players utilised the opportunities and their prowess can be gauged by the fact that six goals were field goals. Two goals came from penalty corners. Meerut Eleven couldn’t score a goal and also failed to defend. Today onwards the quarter final round matches will be played at the Dayanand Hockey Stadium.
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Nawab Cricket Academy win
Dehradun, January 21 Batting first, Bala Ji Cricket Academy went on to score 87 runs in allotted 20 overs. Nawab Cricket Academy batsmen achieved the target by four wickets. In the second match of the day, Abhimanyu Cricket Academy went on to score 115 runs in stipulated 20 overs. Shah Satnam Ji batsmen played aggressively and won the match by 8 wickets. In the third match played between Haldwani Colts and Basawa International team, latter scored 92 runs. Haldwani Colts team proved too good for their opponents and achieved the target in 18.3 overs.
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Badminton: Puneet Bhatt enters final
Dehradun, January 21 In the quarterfinal matches played between Anuj Nuatiyal and Vaibhav Chauhan, Nautiyal triumphed over latter by 21-19, 21-11. Aditya outclassed Abhishek Tiwari in another match by 21-17, 16-21, 21-13. In the third quarterfinal, Vaibhav Gupta outshined Ujjwal by 21-9,21-10. Puneet beat Pankaj 21-5,21-9 in the fourth quarterfinal match of the
day. |
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Boxing: Two constables win bronze
Dehradun, January 21 Suraj Thakur of Udham Singh Nagar won the bronze in Light Fly Weight and Rinku won the bronze in 64 Kg category. A four-member team represented Uttarakhand. State DGP today awarded the winners a cash prize of one thousand rupees each. |
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Ever Wins outshine Royal Academy
Dehradun, January 21 Ever Wins opening batsmen played well to give their team a flying start, contributing 121 runs for the opening wickets stand in the first 17 overs. Ankur of Ever Wins went on to hit 67 runs of just 52 balls, hitting 12 fours in his innings. A well-made 61 runs by Rohit, gave Ankur good support on the other end and helped his team to post a massive total of 253 runs in allotted 40 overs. Praveen and Puneet claimed three wickets each. Chasing a target of 254 runs, Royal Cricket Academy batsmen put up a poor show as their team could manage to get 118 runs only. Puneet was a pick of the bowlers as he ripped through the top order-batting lineup of the Royal Cricket Academy to claim 4 wickets in his seven overs. |
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Haridwar, january 21
