Roorkee, March 5
Going by the rapid pace with which the party is loosing its base among farmers in the state, the road ahead for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not seem too easy as far the approaching Lok Sabha polls are concerned.

Farmers' bodies at various villages are holding meetings everyday against the alleged unsupportive attitude of the current government towards them throughout its two-year regime.

Flaying the government, particularly sugarcane minister Madan Kaushik, Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha's general secretary Rakesh Aggarwal alleged that the government had not lived up to expectations of the farmers.

"Farmers are unhappy with the negative role being played by BJP leaders, so we have decided not to support the party during the Lok Sabha elections. For the purpose, meetings are being held at different villages everyday," said Aggarwal.

The farmers alleged that Kaushik had not only ignored the interests of farmers, but was also hand in glove with sugarcane mill owners.

"Till date, many farmers have not received their last year's payments from sugarcane mill owners," alleged Aggarwal adding that the government supported the mill owners by providing them sufficient time to approach the Supreme Court on sugarcane MSP issue after deciding the MSP as Rs 127-132 per quintal.

In its interim order, the Supreme Court provided relief to the mill owners by changing the MSP to Rs 110 per quintal, said Aggarwal.

On the other hand, district president of BJP Mayan Gupta said he saw no reason why the farmers should bear a grudge against their party.

He categorically termed all the allegations about supporting the mill owners as false.

"We have always back farmers, not mill owners. In fact, what we have done for them (the farmers), no other party ever did.

“We have waived off the entire surcharges and penalties, which amount to be over Rs 35 crore, on the pending tubewell bills of farmers.

“Similarly, our government has written off the penalties (around Rs 1000 crore) on the domestic electricity bills of farmers," said Gupta.

"Due to the pending case in the Supreme Court, some farmers could not get their dues from the mills. But we are certainly with the farmers on the issue," he added.

So far, the farmers have held meetings at Iqbalpur, Thithki, Libberheri, Gadarjudda, Mannakheri, Narsan, Thaska and Udalheri villages.

The other important farmers' body, the Bhartiya Kisan Union, has also opened its front against the present government for ignoring their interests.

Dehradun, March 5
The Uttarakhand unit of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) today launched a scathing attack on the Congress for “overlooking” the interests of the state.

Accusing the Congress MPs, representing Uttarakhand in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, of never taking up the issues pertaining to the state in Parliament, BJP state spokesman Vishwas Dawar said the MPs had not uttered a single word in Parliament throughout their tenure.

Dawar alleged that the UPA government had always meted out step-motherly treatment to Uttarakhand. “Whether it was the issue of the industrial package, railway budget or quota of LPG and kerosene oil, the Centre has always overlooked Uttarakhand,” he said, while adding that the BJP would take up all these issues during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Dawar alleged that even the previous Congress government in the state had completely derailed progress due to its wrong policies.

“But during its two years tenure, the BJP government had made earnest efforts to put the state on fast-track development,” he claimed.

Dawar said their party would propagate achievements of the Khanduri government through a door-to-door campaign. 

Haridwar, March 5
With the announcement of schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, the fate of polls to various sub-panels of Haridwar Municipal Committee hangs in balance.The much-awaited municipal board meeting, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed. However, this time there was no ruckus in the municipal committee due to the Model Code of Conduct coming into effect. 

The Election Commission has declined permission for convening the board meeting on March 6 sought by Haridwar Mayor Kamal Johra. Now, the fate of developmental works and projects in the city once again hang in balance. 

The credit largely goes to factionalism in the BJP municipal committee members and the united opposition members, who since the formation of the municipal committee ten months ago have opposed everything that the Mayor has proposed. — TNS

Dehradun, March 5
The Vigilance Department has unearthed more bank deposits of Ravinder Prasad, the accused executive engineer of minor irrigation department, who is facing a disproportionate assets case. The raids at his house last month had led to the seizure of Rs 55 lakh cash and other assets.

SP Incharge Vigilance, Sector Dehradun, VK Sharma said that further investigation revealed another Rs 10 lakh in his bank accounts.

Besides Rs 55 lakh cash, the earlier raids had yielded Rs 12 lakh in his various bank accounts.

The vigilance officials had raided his house in Vijay Park here on February 17. Two days later, he was produced before the District and Sessions Judge who had sent him to judicial custody.

The biggest seizure from a government official in the state so far, the vigilance sleuths had also seized documents from his house which revealed that the accused owned plots on GMS Road here as well as in Udham Singh Nagar district. He also owned a petrol station in the name of his wife at Kichha.

Besides the bank details, the investigation team has also obtained records of expenditure borne by him on the education fee of his children, electricity, telephone and water bills for the entire period since he was promoted from the post of junior engineer.

Sources said that formalities have also been initiated for the attachment of his property. For this, the Vigilance Department will have to satisfy the court that these were purchased by the accused with ill-gotten money. He was posted at Chamoli when raids were conducted. Yesterday, the court sent him to judicial remand again on the request of the investigating agency. 

Dehradun, March 5
The media campaign launched by the CBI asking the public to report cases of corruption has had the desired effect as it led to the arrest of a bank official in Roorkee demanding bribe from a poor farmer.

Recently, Mange Ram of Thithki village in Haridwar district got in touch with the CBI through SMS as publicised by the premier investigating agency to lodge a complaint against Ashok Kumar Kanojia, accountant-cum-branch manager of UP Cooperative Bank, BT Ganj, Roorkee.

As the case came under the domain of the Vigilance Department, Dehradun, accordingly, the CBI advised him to approach it.

Acting on his complaint, Vigilance sleuths today caught Kanojia red-handed while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 2,500 from Mange Ram.

The bribe money was part of the total Rs 10,000 demanded by the accused in lieu of issuing the complainant a cheque of Rs 21,500, said VK Sharma, SP incharge, Vigilance, Sector Dehradun.

Barely literate, Mange Ram said that he had taken a loan of Rs 17,000 from the bank seven years back for installing a pump set to irrigate his fields.

In August 2007, he received a notice from the bank to repay the loan which had accumulated to about Rs 42,000 including interest. Of this amount, Rs 21,500 was to be refunded to him after the government announced agricultural loan waiver last year.

“When I approached Kanojia about the refund, he agreed on the condition that I should pay him half the refund. Finally, it was decided that he will issue the cheque on receiving Rs 2,500 as bribe and the remaining amount will be paid after encashing the cheque,” he said.

Then, Mange Ram got to know about the CBI campaign through his son. “It made me feel that I should proceed against the bank official. I approached the CBI through SMS with the help of my son.”

The accused was produced before the District and Sessions Judge here today who sent him to judicial custody for 14 days. 

Dehradun, March 5
The Class X examination of the Uttarakhand State Board commenced today with students appearing for their Hindi literature and language paper. While some students found the paper easy, others looked worried over the pattern of the paper. 

Rani, who took the examination, said, “I had enough time to revise my paper in the end. The paper was easy for those who had studied thoroughly. And I am glad to be among them. I expect to score good marks in the papers.”

Another student Rohana said, “The paper was a bit lengthy. Those with good writing skills would have found the paper easy and would have complete it quickly.”

According to Rohana, the paper contained too much grammar compared to the previous year. This made the paper a little tough. “Otherwise, it was okay for me.”

Some students were upset at the pattern of the paper. Neha said, “Compared to last year, the paper was very tough. Last year, the paper did not contain too many unseen passages. There were too many of them this year and this made the paper lengthy. I missed out on a six-mark question because of shortage of time.”

Another student, Nida, complained about bad attitude of the invigilators who snatched away her paper at the end. “They could have tore my paper.”

Daud Ansari, who is reappearing in the examination after failing last year, said that the paper this year was tougher than last year. “I missed out on the grammar part.” Despite this, he expects to score in the 70s.

Mansoof Ahmed, Ansari’s friend, was relaxed. He said, “We both will score good marks in this paper. The good thing is that we have a day’s gap for our next paper. We will prepare together for the paper as we did for this one.” 

Dehradun, March 5
With a view to bring down the number of accidents during the char dham yatra season this year, the state government has chalked out a comprehensive strategy.

Although every year steps are taken to ensure that accidents do not occur, the efforts have not yielded the desired results.

However, this time, the government seems to have come up with a concrete plan under which various government departments would be made accountable for any lapses.

Giving details, Garhwal Commissioner Uma Kant Pawar said over-speeding, poor condition of roads and negligence on part of the drivers are the main reasons behind the accidents.

“We have decided to direct the Public Works Department (PWD) chief engineer to submit a certificate about the safety of various stretches of roads leading to the char dhams.”

“The certificate will have to be submitted every week during the yatra season, which will get underway from May 1, 2009,” he said.

Pawar said PWD officials would have to make sure that there are no potholes on the roads, besides ensuring sufficient crash barriers.

Likewise, the engineer of the Jal Sansthan would also be asked to submit a certificate about the availability of the water.

“Various departments that are concerned with the char dham yatra will submit their certificates by April 10.

“In addition, every travel agency will have to submit the proof of registration of the agency with the transport department. And for tourist clearance, the travel agency must be registered with the tourism department,” said Pawar.

Notably, the safety records of the state buses has remained dismal, with more than 500 persons dying every year, particularly during the char dham yatra that also coincides with the monsoon season.

Roads to these four revered Hindu pilgrimage centres — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri — located in Garhwal Himalayas are dangerous and drunken driving, overloading and lack of repairs are some of the major reasons for the occurrence of many accidents.

A tendency among transporters to make more money by making maximum number of trips to the char dhams is also the reason behind frequent accidents.

Meanwhile, speaking about the problem of parking, Pawar said at places like Rudrprayag, Gaurikund and Joshimath, where there is literally no space for parking, they are contemplating making provisions for a small by-pass and one-side staggered parking.

Regarding the yatra dates clashing with the general elections, he said instructions have been passed on to assess requirement of additional police personnel and officials so that adjustments could be made accordingly.

The Garhwal Commissioner also said devotees in large numbers from neighbouring states, including Punjab and Haryana, visit Uttarakhand to pay obeisance at the Hemkund Sahib.

“It has come to light that the devotees coming from Punjab and Haryana not only carry LPG cylinders in the trucks, but also violate many other provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act.

“Hence we have decided to send a letter to the Punjab and Haryana government to look into the matter. Besides, we will also be imposing a fine on violators,” said Pawar. 

Dehradun, March 5
A two-day workshop on gender budgeting held today with a view to empower women and involve them in development activities in the state. These views were expressed by Chief secretary Indu Kumar Pandey said the purpose of gender budgeting is to financially empower women. 

“Women play an important role in the development of the state. While preparing the budget for the state, the needs of women are taken care and efforts are made to allocate funds for programmes that would benefit women.” He directed officers to allocate funds for the programmes.

Dr Parimita Mazumdar, consultant Women and Child Development, Government of India said finance and planning go hand in hand. “Without finances plans cannot take-off. The Central government is keen to speed track the programmes launched by the Panchayati Raj department, rural development and health department as these programmes also target women and children,” said Parimita.

Principal secretary Finance and Planning, Alok Jain said, “We will have to give due consideration to women and their financial growth while making plan outlays,” said Alok Jain.

Additional secretary PS Jangpangi said the state is sensitive to the needs of women and the workshop would prove beneficial for the participants to learn more about gender budgeting.

Dehradun, March 5
Abhimanyu Cricket Academy (ACA) cruised into the semifinals of the 57th District Cricket League by defeating Pan Business by 35 runs in the first quarterfinal here at Survey Stadium today. It was a fine batting display by the ACA’s top-order who put up a huge total on board for Pan Business to chase.

ACA’s decision to bat first after winning the toss proved right as all top five batsmen contributed to the score. For the opening wicket, Paritosh and Swaraj made a handy contribution. They went on to score 70 runs in the first 13 overs.

Paritosh made 69 runs off 62 balls smashing eight fours and two sixes and Swaraj made 15 runs.

First-down batsman Ravi Negi then increased the team’s run rate. He played a blazing innings of 62 runs off just 48 balls hitting five fours and three sixes. Second-down batsman Vipin supported him well to hit a half-century enabling his team to reach a total of 238 runs in the allotted 35 overs. For Pan Business team, Dhanpal and Rajeev took two wickets each.

Chasing a target of 239 runs, Pan Business made a good start scoring 42 runs in the first 5.3 overs. Openers Subodh and Ravi made 20 runs each.

After Ravi got out at the team score of 42 runs, it lost momentum losing three wickets in quick succession. Three batsmen - Subodh, Kuldeep and Vikas - got out at the team score of 46 runs.

Lower-order batsman Vivek did put up a brave front hitting 71 runs off 53 balls but his innings could not help his team win the match.

Pan Business’ whole team was all out for 203 runs. For ACA, Ravi, Himanshu, Vipin and Raj picked up two wickets each.