Dehradun, January 23 In a bid to expand its base from traditional strongholds of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the state unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), at a function held here today, launched a major campaign to involve local leaders with the party.

BSP leader Shahzad welcomes Subhash Sharma after he joined the party fold in Dehradun on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Kranti Dal may contest all seats
Dehradun, January 23
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), an ally of BJP-led Uttarakhand government, might field its candidates from all the five parliamentary constituencies of the state.

BJP legislator stalls anti-encroachment drive
Haridwar, January 23
A day after violence erupted at the mela area of the Bairagi camp during an anti-encroachment drive yesterday, the drive came to a halt today largely due to political intervention.

Dehradun, January 23
In a bid to expand its base from traditional strongholds of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the state unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), at a function held here today, launched a major campaign to involve local leaders with the party.

Thousands of workers, led by Subhash Sharma, a leader who has been associated with various political parties such as Samajwadi Party, Congress and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) during the past three decades, joined the BSP in the presence of party leaders.

Shahzad, BSP leader in Uttarakhand assembly, wel- comed Subhash Sharma and his supporters and hoped that BSP would emerge as a powerful party in Dehradun district.

Jagpal Singh, Uttar Pradesh MLA from Harora assembly segment in Saharanpur district, who is also co-incharge of party affairs in Uttarakhand said the BSP would cater to the aspirations of the poor and downtrodden people of the state.

Haji Tasleem, legislator from Lal Dhang in Haridwar district, and Uttarakhand state President Suraj Mal were also present on the occasion.

The BSP has been slowly but steadily increasing its base in the state, and the party hopes to open its account in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls by wresting the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat from Samajwadi Party.

For the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, BSP has taken a headstart by announcing candidates for all the five seats of the state.

It is expected that the party would do well in Haridwar and Nainital Lok Sabha seats since the candidates are not outsiders but legislators.

Narayan Pal, a two-time MLA from Sitarganj has been announced as party candidate from Nainital while Shahzad, MLA from Bahadarbad, has been named from Haridwar.

But the biggest worry for BSP is the new delimitation. Under the new dispensation, three assembly segments of Dehradun district, namely Rishikesh, Doiwala and Dharampur that were earlier with Pauri Garhwal seat would now form part of Haridwar Lok Sabha seat. Dharampur is a new assembly seat carved from Doiwala and Laxman Chowk assembly segments.

The Rishikesh and Doiwala segments were won by the BJP during the 2007 assembly polls.

Notably, with an aim to get support in these three segments of Dehradun district and to ensure a win in Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has been taking a personal interest and has won over some of the political leaders who could make a difference during the elections. 

Garhwal Commissioner Umakant Pawar with Haridwar District Magistrate Shailesh Bagoli talk to slum dwellers at Bairagi Camp in Haridwar on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Haridwar, January 23
A day after violence erupted at the mela area of the Bairagi camp during an anti-encroachment drive yesterday, the drive came to a halt today largely due to political intervention. The area bore a deserted look amid heavy deployment of police personnel.

Garhwal commissioner Umakant Pawar visited the Bairagi camp area today and interacted with people who showed him their ration cards and electricity bills. He was accompanied by Haridwar District Magistrate Shailesh Bagholi and district police chief Sanjay Gunjiyal.

Sources said the drive has been halted due to the intervention of local MLA and state education minister Madan Kaushik who directed District Magistrate Shailesh Bagholi and SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal to stop the drive temporarily.

Kaushik is a front runner for the BJP ticket from Haridwar Lok Sabha seat and with the election approaching, the intervention seems largely political as the BJP got huge support from irregular colonies and slums in Haridwar during the last assembly election. The support might prove decisive this time as well.

Meanwhile, with no police action today a few people were seen re-constructing their huts in the outer areas. They alleged that the local politicians allowed them to construct the colonies during last election and now were not coming out in their support.

Kumari Meenu, a resident here, openly blamed Kaushik for the situation. “During election time he promised that these colonies would be legalised, but after becoming a minister he could not even save us from police atrocity,” she alleged.

Interestingly, despite the administration’s claim that people were living here illegally, most of them have ration cards, voter identity cards and even electricity bills, which points to a nexus between officials and the politicians. The supply, revenue and electricity departments have also come under scanner because these were issued on illegal addresses.

Notably, the 134 hectares of total land at Bairagi camp falls under the irrigation department out of which around 40-hectare is illegally occupied. It is being alleged that several plots have also been sold and recently two rival BJP groups fought for the occupancy of a particular piece of land.

However, DM Shailesh Bagholi said the drive would be carried out till the area is cleared of encroachments. Circle officer Shweta Chaubey said, “We have earmarked the illegal colonies and today or tomorrow we have to remove them as this is imperative for successfully organising the Kumbh Mela” 

Dehradun, January 23
Union minister of power Sushil Kumar Shinde today laid the foundation stone of an engineering college and hydropower institute - the first of its kind in the country - at Dibnu village near New Tehri township.

He also laid the foundation stone of Tehri centre of university of petroleum and energy studies. The college, promised by the Union power minister during his visit to Tehri in February 2008, will be set up and run by the Tehri Hydro-electric Development Corporation (THDC), the agency which built the Tehri Dam project.

On the occasion, Shinde said the Union government has always been willing to help the new state of Uttarakhand and will continue to do so. “There will be no financial constraints to look after the needs of people who left their homes and hearths for the Tehri Dam project,” he said.

The corporation has given a sum of Rs 15 crore for the first phase of setting up of the college as part of its social responsibility. Shinde said by opening of these institutes skilled manpower will be produced at the regional level and better employment avenues will be generated.

The Union power minister said according to the new government’s policy, one per cent of the hydro-electricity produced is to be given to the state for the development of local areas. This will be over and above the 12 per cent of electricity sanctioned to the state earlier. The project-affected people will be given 100 units of electricity per month free of cost and they can sell the surplus electricity.

Vijay Bahuguna, Congress MP from Tehri Garhwal, said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre has been magnanimous with funds to Uttarakhand. Referring to the proposed setting up of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the state besides grant of Central university status to Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Bahuguna said the Union government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was totally committed to the development of the state.

However, when Kishore Upadhaya, Congress legislator from Tehri, tried to highlight the plight of Tehri residents while blaming the state government he was cut short by the Union minister. Shinde advised him to refrain from criticising the state government, as this was not the proper forum for such discussions.

Chief Minister BC Khanduri, who presided over the function, said it was not the proper forum to indulge in blame game, but said he would answer him at the appropriate time.

Haridwar, January 23
PNB Delhi and Northern Railway emerged victorious in their respective semifinal matches at the 77th All-Indian Swami Shraddhanand tournament.

In the first semifinal, PNB Delhi faced stiff resistance from the Corps of Signal team but the match changed in 11th minute when PNB cruised ahead by a penalty corner with the help of Satpal.

Soon COS in the 27th minute converted a field goal through SKS Talwar, putting both the sides on equal score. With aggressive hockey and counter attacks being made by both the sides penalty corners were gained regularly by both the sides but none utilized these with score line at first half showing 1-1.

In the second half PNB earned two consecutive penalty corners which were thwarted by the Signal’s goalkeeper H Narayanan in the 36th and 37th minute. Navdeep sailed past the Signals defence and scored a beautiful and match winning goal in the 64th minute. The goal put pressure on Signal and eventually PNB maintained the lead cruised into the final with 2-1 lead.

While Northern Railways register victory defeating BEG Roorkee in the second semifinal. In the first half, Ram Nagina from BEG Roorkee, scored the first goal in the 19th minute when he dozed the defence of the Railways. Soon in the 36th minute, Kripal scored the second goal to make the score 2-0.

Northern coach masterminded a new strategy and Railway players scored in 42nd minute and 53rd minute through Hardeep Singh and Prem Kumar utilising penalty corners.

After 70 minutes, the penalty stroke was put into use to decide the winner. The match reached to such an excitement that both teams scored one each in four penalty corners they got putting the score to 6-6. At the fifth stroke Northern Railway got ahead with scoring a goal and their goalkeeper defending one assures Northern Railways a 7-6 victory, to vie for the 77th edition trophy with the PNB Delhi team.

Now all eyes are set on the final of the tournament which will be played at Dayanand stadium tomorrow.

Dehradun, January 23
All-round performance by Prakash helped Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) win match against YBC Gujrara by 7-wickets here today. Prakash scored 54 runs and claimed 3 wickets.

YBC Gujrara team got out for 159 runs. For CAU, Ravi and Prakash did the damage as they went on to take three wickets each to demolish YBC Gujrara.

In reply, CAU reached the target with seven wickets in hand. Kamal was the top scorer for the teams with 62 runs. Prakash supported him well to go on to hit 54 runs. It was an easy victory for CAU in the end.