The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	13th Finance Panel Govt seeks Rs 39k cr for next 5 yrs Raju William Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 28 The Uttarakhand government has requested the 13th Finance Commission to compensate projected pre-devolution deficit of more than Rs 39,000 crore to meet fiscal challenges over the next five years. Chief Minister BC Khanduri, who holds the finance portfolio, made a presentation here today before the commission headed by Vijay L Kelkar, which is on two-day visit to the state. The state’s share of central taxes will be deducted from this projected deficit when the commission decides on the devolution for the state. The focus of presentation was mainly on sharp increase in the committed non-plan expenditure mainly on account revised salaries, pension and repayment of interest on loans. Reeling under financial crisis, the fiscal position of the state between 2010-15 largely depends on the central funds under non-plan grant that excludes the state’s share of central taxes. Last time, the share of Uttarakhand was 0.93 per cent. The pre-devolution non-plan revenue deficit projected this time is much higher. It was Rs 15,780 crore for 2005-10 but as per the recommendations of the 12th Finance Commission, the state had got Rs 5,114 crore. Due to the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, the state has to bear an extra burden Rs 1,400 crore. This year, the salary component including arrears has increased to Rs 4,000 crore. The amount required annually as pension, including arrears, is also estimated to be around Rs 1,150 crore. Another big worry is to pay Rs 1,200 crore annually on repayment of interest. “The response of the commission was very encouraging. Besides highlighting various efforts made by us, we apprised it that being a hill state, our expenditure liabilities are very high. So we need greater financial support,” said Khanduri after the meeting. In the past, the commissions have based their recommendation on the devolution criteria containing weightage given to factors like population, income, area, tax effort and fiscal discipline. They have tended to assign much higher weightage to population and income as compared to other factors. This has important implications for a state like Uttarakhand which has a large area under forests, higher operational cost for providing services, deficient infrastructure and disadvantage of being far away from main markets.
	Congress wants industrial package extended Umesh Dewan Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 28 A delegation of the state unit of Congress, led by Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Yashpal Arya, today met the members of the 13th Finance Commission and demanded the extension of the industrial package in Uttarakhand for another three years, till March 2013. While stating that the special package of incentives to industrial units in Uttarakhand will expire in March 2010, Arya said, “From 1947 to 2002, unlike other states, our region did not get the benefits of the industrial policies of the Union government. Hence, there is a need to extend the industrial package in order to ensure sound industrial base in the state. Besides, transport subsidy should also be provided on some selected products being manufactured by industrial units in Uttarakhand.” Besides apprising the Commission about the economic condition of the state, the Congress delegation also submitted a memorandum to the Commission. The memorandum reads, “There is a great potential for exploring tourism in the state. State could generate considerable revenue from the tourism industry but unfortunately so far tourism has not been explored well here.” The Congress leaders also said the main chunk of the tourists coming here are pilgrims. “State government had to spend lot of funds for creating infrastructure and the facilities for the pilgrims. Since, religious places in the state are integral part of the Indian culture, Union government should also contribute in the expenses being incurred by the state government,” said Arya. The Congress delegation also submitted that in order to make agriculture profitable in hilly areas, there is a need for adopting latest and scientific agricultural techniques. “The rural economy would improve only when requisite steps would be initiated for having better agriculture produce in the hilly areas,” said Congress leaders. While drawing Commission’s attention towards the problem of soil erosion, the Congress delegation expressed the need for initiation of schemes for soil conservation and tree plantation. Yashpal Arya disclosed that they had apprised the Commission about the ground reality and the problems Uttarakhand is facing at the moment. “We hope that our suggestions would be taken care of,” he said. It may be mentioned that besides Arya, other delegation members include former Minister Navprabhat, UPCC media in charge Suryakant Dhasmana, Congress leaders Subodh Unniyal, Pritam Singh, R.S.Nautiyal and M.P.Naithani were also present at the meeting.
	Anti-encroachment drive Child’s death puts BJP in bind Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, January 28 The anti-encroachment drive conducted by the administration and the police, which turned violent a week ago, at Bairagi camp has taken a political turn with Congress came forward in support of the slum dwellers and BJP at crossroads with two of its cabinet ministers taking different stance on this issue. The issue has magnified with the death of a seven-month-old girl Lalita. Her parents alleged that she suffered injuries during the drive conducted by the police on January 22 which caused her death. The role of local administration and police also came under question when the police tried to bury the child without carrying out a postmortem. It was only when locals protested, the body was sent for the postmortem. Several organisations have came out against the police atrocious act in the area. Meanwhile today, former state Congress chief Harish Rawat visited the area and listened to the woes of the people. The dwellers showed their voter ID cards, electricity bills, water bills and ration cards as a residential proofs of the colony. Harish Rawat assured that he will look into the matter and condemned the police attack. “Police did a barbaric act and its inhumane that the administration hasn’t yet given any compensation to Lalita’s family,” said Rawat. He also said the state government is also not clear about this drive. “On one hand, a cabinet minister stalls the process while on the other, another minister lauds the effort. There is no communication and dialogue between the ministers and the BJP members too have their plots at the Mela area,” alleged Rawat. Minister for Water Matbar Singh Kandari during the Republic Day function in the city termed that the anti-encroachment drive is in interest of everybody and it is illegal to occupy Mela land meant for official purposes only. This statement is in contradiction to MLA and Education Minister Madan Kaushik who condemned the way drive was conducted and halted the drive on the very first day in the area. This has created a difficult situation for the BJP in the district as the parliamentary elections are approaching and it hasn’t still decided on the names of the candidates. Madan Kaushik is in the race for the party ticket and conveyed his resentment to District Magistrate and SSP Sanjay Gunjiyal. Since then the drive has been halted in the area that started from January 15. Drive resumed Dehradun: After a lull due to the holiday on account of Republic Day, Dehradun Municipal Corporation today resumed its anti-encroachment drive and dismantled a number of makeshift accommodations adjacent to the DEAL nullah in the Raipur area here. The encroachments had been a matter of concern as they lie adjacent to the defence establishment of DEAL. Sushil Kumar, chief executive officer, DMC, said the corporation would continue with its anti-encroachment drive. Station officer, Raipur, Jawaharlal along with other police officials accompanied the corporation officials. The demolition team also dismantled a brick wall that had been constructed on municipal land. Encroachments continue to pose a big challenge for Dehradun Municipal authorities, particularly encroachments along seasonal rains, rivulets and drains. The most affected are the two major seasonal rivers that circumvent Dehradun city- Rispana and Bindal. Both rivers are the lifelines during monsoon as they are the only outlets for rainwater. But these riverbeds have been heavily encroached upon by slums and shanty colonies. There are 10,000 encroachments on the Rispana and around 6,000 are along the Bindal.
	Lack of funds hitting tourism: SP Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 28 The Uttarakhand unit of Samajwadi Party today requested the 13th Finance Commission to consider special financial assistance for the young hill state so that it could become self-reliant. During the commission’s interaction with the leaders of political parties, the national general secretary of the party Vinod Barthwal pleaded that central funds were urgently required to promote tourism and hydro-power generation projects. Though the state has abundant natural resources and beauty but the economic potential can be exploited with proper infrastructure. He also argued that the state should be adequately compensated as economic activity was prohibited on 19 per cent of its total 61 per cent area under forests. The immense potential for adventure sports, which can attract people from all over the world, was lying untapped due to lack of required funds, added Barthwal.
	Varsity teachers go on mass leave Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 28 Teachers owing allegiance to the Federation of Uttaranchal University College Teachers Association (FUUCTA) today went on mass leave to demand uniformity in the implementation of the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s order of December 31, 2008 in the entire country. The teachers, led by president of FUUCTA Dr OP Kulshreshtha, held a rally at Gandhi Park. “All teachers will participate in the all-India march to Parliament on February 23 in support of our charter of demands,” said Kulshreshtha. The demands are continuation of Central assistance on posts that are created during and after January 1, 2006, removal of anomalies in retirement age for teachers existing in the MHRD order, uniformity in the implementation of UGC pay scales as per the Chadda Committee recommendations,” he added. He said that the Department of Higher Education, Government of Uttarakhand, and VC of HNB Garhwal University should ensure that the academic calendar and finances of aided and unaided colleges in the state should be borne by the Central government, on the pattern of Delhi and Nagaland Universities. This has become necessary after the HNB University was conferred central status,” said Dr Kulshreshtha.
	Traffic Police Drive St Thomas students show the way Raju William Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 28 A large number of school students yesterday pasted black stickers on the headlights of vehicles to prevent accidents caused by high beam lights. This month-long drive has been launched by Dehradun traffic police. Students of Saint Thomas School and Gandhi Inter-College pasted black stickers on over 1,000 vehicles including private and public transport vehicles at Darshan Chowk roundabout today afternoon. Any vehicle found without black stickers after a month will be challaned as using high beam light was a violation of traffic rules, said SP traffic Nilesh Anand Bharne. The traffic police has involved city schools especially those located in areas where traffic congestion is a nagging problem. To start with, students of one or two schools will plant stickers everyday. Later, NGOs and other organisations will be involved. The initiative came from the Dehradun-based Reliance Advertising which roped in its client ACC, the leading cement manufacturing company, to sponsor one lakh stickers as part of its corporate social responsibility. The stickers bear name of the company. “The idea serves the larger public interest. So we made a presentation to the company which readily agreed to it,” said Deepak Sachdeva, proprietor of the advertising agency. The traffic police has been organising film shows and lectures in schools to create awareness among students as to how compliance of traffic rules can prevent accidents.