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Uncertainty over BJP’s Haridwar candidate
Slum-dwellers protest forcible eviction
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Special cell for Mandi IIT students
Farmers enlightened
on bamboo cultivation
Nurses threaten to step up stir
Thapa’s fans have a ball at Clock Tower
Three shops gutted
ETV holds auditions
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Uncertainty over BJP’s Haridwar candidate
Dehradun, March 2 Albeit the BJP has announced its candidates for the five parliamentary seats, the Sant Samaj and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) are exerting a lot of pressure on the party’s central leadership to change the candidate Madan Kaushik, who is also state education minister. Conflicting statements of party leaders on this issue have now given weight to speculations of change of candidate. There have also been reports that the party’s central leadership had instructed the state unit of BJP to send another name for Haridwar constituency. However, Chief Minister BC Khanduri and BJP state president Bachi Singh Rawat had ruled out any possibility of changing the party’s nominee. Party’s state in charge Krishan Murari Moghe is also not giving any clear reply on the issue. “If at all anything pertaining to candidature of Haridwar seat is to be discussed, it would be deliberated upon in the second meet of the Central Election Committee of BJP scheduled to be held in a week’s time,” he said. Notably, immediately after announcement of Madan Kaushik’s name as candidate from Haridwar, the saints having allegiance with BJP rushed to New Delhi demanding replacement of Kaushik with Swami Chinmayanand, who was former union minister of the state of home in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. According to sources, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Ashok Singhal is lobbying for Chinmayanand. Singhal had even met Lal Krishna Advani and other senior BJP leaders in this regard. “Whatever the party leaders say, one thing is clear that a question mark has been raised over the candidature of Kaushik,” said a senior BJP leader preferring anonymity. Expressing his views on the issue, representative of the Sant Samaj Swami Hans Daas said Swami Chinmayanand is the right person for Haridwar and hence he should be given the opportunity to contest the election. Swami Hans Daas added that they have conveyed their viewpoint to BJP chief Rajnath Singh and LK Advani, while adding, “Now, it is up to the party leadership whether they will replace Kaushik or not.” On the other hand, BJP state spokesman Vishwas Dawar said they have not received any official communication about sending any name to party’s central leadership, while adding, “At this juncture, there would be no rethink about changing any candidate.” |
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Slum-dwellers protest forcible eviction
Dehradun, March 2 The group alleged that while tenants at these slums were getting accommodation in the proposed flats, many of the slum-dwellers are being forcibly evicted despite the latter not opting for new flats. Led by former Deputy Mayor Umesh Sharma, Khala Basti residents resented the forcible eviction of owners of permanent houses. The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the Mayor. According to Jawaharlal Nehru National Renewable Urban Mission (JNNRUM) for slum development, while 80 per cent of the expenses are incurred by the Centre, the rest is equally shared between the local civic body and the allottee. Khala Basti and Katbangla slum settlements in Dehradun have already been covered in the scheme and multi-storeyed accommodations have to be built in their place. In a big respite to slum-dwellers, the payments had to be made in installments. Interestingly, while the ruling BJP wants to take the credit of speedy implementation of slum development scheme, the Congress is trying to blame the ruling party of failing to properly implement the scheme. |
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Special cell for Mandi IIT students
Roorkee, March 2 “We are prepared to induct the first batch of IIT Mandi students. The special cell would look after them till the setting up a new campus at Kamand village, 20 kms from Mandi,” said Saxena. He added that in the first batch 120 students would be admitted in three B.Tech courses -computer science and engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. “The students will follow the same curriculum and all the academic rules
and regulations prevalent at the mentor institution,” said Saxena. On being asked about how he feels in serving as the director of two IITs simultaneously, Saxena said it is a big challenge. “But I feel that there would not be any difficulty as proper coordination committee would be constituted for monitoring all the developments,” said Saxena, adding that his top most priority is to set up the new campus as soon as possible. “The campus would be readied within three-four years. After that the remaining work would be done in a phased manner,” he said. The only problem, the director-in-charge said, is the poor connectivity of Kamand village with Mandi district. “Its (Kamand) poor connectivity is matter of concern but I am sure this would be solved very soon. I have already taken up the issue with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal regarding elevation of
the domestic airport at Kullu to national/international level. |
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Farmers enlightened
on bamboo cultivation
Dehradun, March 2 Inaugurating the programme, Omkar Singh, head of the extension division, exhorted the farmers to gain from the institute’s expertise in bamboo cultivation. He said countries like China had exploited bamboo cultivation in a big way, he said. Gulab Singh, deputy conservator of forests extension division, said the institute had been regularly holding training programmes for farmers from across the country towards providing them the proper knowhow on bamboo
cultivation. Dr VRR Singh, Dr SS Jain and Dr Adarsh Kumar delivered the
lecturers on various aspects of bamboo cultivation to the participants on the first day of the training. The five day programme that includes field visits concludes on March 6. |
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Nurses threaten to step up stir
Dehradun, March 2 The nurses have been staging a two-hour boycott of work since the last couple of days in support of their demands.They have threatened to launch an indefinite stir from March 9 if their demands are not met. The general secretary of the association, Anjana Bhowmick, said their wanted pay-scale revision, nurses allowance, boarding allowance and uniform allowance on a par with their counterparts at the Centre. She said from March 3 to March 8, all nurses would work on one shift. CMS Dr RK Pant of Doon Hospital has warned the nurses of action if any “untoward incident” occurs during their absence. |
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Thapa’s fans have a ball at Clock Tower
His fans turned up at Clock Tower to celebrate his achievement. Delirious with joy, they said though he had not won the title of “Indian Idol”, for them he remained a role model. Since the past one month, there were appeals by his family members, political parties and well-wishers to the public to vote for him. A “maha yagya” was performed on February 27 for his victory. Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Kanduri congratulated him on his achievement. |
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Three shops gutted
Haridwar, March 2 Although the fire brigade brought the flames under control, it was not
before the flames had engulfed two more adjacent shops. “Had the fire brigade not reached instantly the casualties would have been much more as there were more shops and residential quarters adjoining these shops,” said a local trader. An official of the fire station said a short-circuit was probably the reason behind the fire. |
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DRCC, IFCAI register victories
Dehradun, March 2 Batting first, DRCC team started on a strong note and their opening pair laid a strong foundation. Vijay was the star performer for his team. He struck a dazzling 79 runs off 47 balls, smashing 12 fours and three sixes. The other opener, Birender, supported him well on the other end and scored 46 runs. The two contributed 116 runs for the opening wicket. First down batsman, Zeeshan, added 64 runs off 58 balls and the team piled a mammoth total of 248 runs in the allotted 35 overs. For Rao Cricket Academy Mahek and Amit bagged four wickets each. Chasing the target, the Rao Cricket Academy was under pressure from the very beginning and lost its first wicket with the team score on 36 runs. Amit was the first to go after he made 21 runs. Soon to follow him was Anil who got out at the score of 18 runs with the total score on 45. Rao Cricket Academy could not make a comeback and went on losing wickets at frequently intervals. However, lower order batsman Mahek made a useful contribution to help his team reach a respectable total. The whole team was out for 180 runs. For DRCC team, Sachin took four wickets. In another match played between BSNL and ICFAI teams, the latter won a closely contested game by one wicket. Batting first, BSNL team made a modest 152 runs in their allotted 35 overs. Sumit was the top- scorer with 43 runs off 54 balls. For ICFAI, Nishith took four wickets and Ankit three. Chasing the victory target, ICFAI team lost four wickets with the score on 12 runs. However, middle- order batsman Akshay scored 57 runs off 57 balls to help his team. |
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ETV holds auditions
Dehradun, March 2 A total 60 candidates from different locations participated. Prior to these auditions, ETV has held auditions at
Haldwani, Almora and Srinagar. After Dehradun, their next destination is Delhi. “The results of the auditions will be declared soon. Apart from providing a platform to the talented, our aim is to encourage people of Uttarakhand to value its music and with other judges, Hira Singh Bisht and Pritam Barthwal,famous singers of Uttarakhand will select and motivate singers,” said Govind
Kaptiyal, bureau chief, ETV, Dehradun. He was sure of attracting the best talent. |
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Dehradun, March 2