The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Parties pull out their thinking cap
Post-delimitation, the parties will have to devise
new poll strategies. While urban Dehradun voters
will no more vote for the Pauri parliamentary seat,
the Ramnagar assembly constituency in Kumaon will
elect its representative from Pauri for the first time.
Umesh Dewan & Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
With an increase of 1,68,640 voters compared to the 2004 General Election, Uttarakhand is bracing itself for elections to its five parliamentary constituencies.

Figures given out by the State Election Commission show as many as 57,31,277 voters will be exercising franchise to elect MPsfrom five parliamentary constituencies-Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Almora (SC), Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar-on May 13.

Official statistics put the total number of male and female voters in Uttarakhand at 29,33,387 and 27,97,890, respectively.

In Pauri Garhwal and Almora (SC) parliamentary constituencies the number of female voters is more than the male.

In Pauri Garhwal, the number of female voters is 31,097 more than the male, whereas in Almora (SC), there are 34,897 more female voters than male voters.

The figures reveal that Haridwar and Almora (SC) are the biggest and smallest parliamentary constituencies, with 12,78,262 and 10,16,301 electors, respectively.

Earlier, Tehri Garhwal and Haridwar used to be the biggest and smallest parliamentary constituencies, respectively.

Besides the increase in number of voters, the state will witness its first elections after the delimitation of constituencies by the Election Commission of India.

Pauri Parliamentary, once represented by Chief Minister BC Khanduri, has also undergone key changes.

Dehradun city is no more a part of this constituency, whereas Deoprayag and Narendra Nagar assembly segments of Garhwal and the Ramnagar assembly segment of Kumoan have been included in Pauri Garhwal.

Most literate and a metropolis in the making, Dehradun city has played a decisive role in the saffron party's victory on a number of occasions.

The city has always gone the BJP way. This is substantiated by the fact that it has been represented by BJP MLA Harbans Kapoor for the past many decades.

Interestingly, while urban Dehradun voters will no more vote for the Pauri Parliamentary constituency, the Ramnagar assembly constituency in Kumaon will vote to elect its representative from Pauri for the first time.

Similarly, the core of Tehri politics and former capital of the then King of Tehri,
the Narendra Nagar assembly constituency, has also been included in the Pauri
parliamentary seat.

Same is the case with Deoprayag. Significantly, both the assembly seats are represented by Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) MLAs with one of them, Diwakar Bhatt, holding a portfolio in the state Cabinet.

Tehri Garhwal depicts a different picture after delimitation. While it has lost the Deoprayag and Narendra Nagar assembly constituencies to Pauri, a big chunk of Dehradun voters from Rajpur and other areas will elect the Tehri MP this time.

Sitting Congress MP from Tehri Vijay Bahuguna will certainly have to focus more on Dehradun now. For the BJP, which lost the last election from this seat, will have to re-think its strategy.

Haridwar witnessed the biggest change in the post- delimitation scenario as this constituency no more falls in the reserved category.

It has certain number of new inclusions. A couple of areas of Dehradun have been amalgamated with this constituency in the plains withhas a demographic character quite unlike other districts of Uttarakhand.

The Dharampur and Doiwala assembly constituencies in Dehradun and the Rishikesh assembly constituency, which was earlier evenly divided between Tehri and Pauri constituencies, are now part of the Haridwar parliamentary constituency.

These three assembly constituencies can tilt scales either way, if not decide the winner from the Haridwar constituency.

All these three assembly constituencies have a large number of hill voters. The rest are dominated by people from the plains with a considerable number of Backward Class and Dalit voters.

The Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency in Kumaon has lost Ramnagar to Pauri.

The development is likely to hurt Congress interests as the area has a large chunk of voters from the minority community.

The constituency has been a fiefdom of the Congress, barring a few times when
the Congress lost.

The Almora-Pithoragarh parliamentary constituency that has a history of electing Rawats, whether it is the sitting BJP MP Bachchi Singh Rawat or Congress leader Harish Rawat, has been reserved in the delimitation.

Notably, the delimitation exercise has made the age-old Garhwal-Kumaon, Tehri-Pauri and hill-plain divide irrelevant.

Besides, the post-parliamentary constituency delimitation scenario in Uttarakhand has forced political parties to go for a re-think of strategies vis-à-vis each parliamentary constituency.

Details of assembly constituencies falling in parliamentary constituencies:

Tehri Garhwal: Purola (SC), Yamnotri, Gangotri, Ghanshali (SC), Partapnagar,
Tehri, Dhanolti, Chakrata (ST), Vikasnagar, Sahaspur, Raipur, Rajpur Road,
Dehradun Cantt and Mussoorie

Pauri Garhwal: Badrinath, Tharali (SC), Karanprayag, Kedarnath, Rudraprayag, Deoprayag, Narendra Nagar, Yamkeshwar, Pauri (SC), Srinagar, Chaubattakhal, Lansdowne, Kotdwar and Ramnagar

Almora (SC): Dharchula, Didihat, Pithoragarh, Gangolihat (SC), Kapkote, Bageshwar (SC), Almora, Jageshwar, Lohagat and Champawat

Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar: Lalkuwa, Bhimtal, Nainital (SC), Haldwani, Kaladhungi, Jaspur, Kashipur, Bajpur (SC), Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Kichha, Sitarganj, Nanak Matta (SC) and Khatima

Haridwar: Dharampur, Doiwala, Rishikesh, Haridwar, BHEL Ranipur, Jwalapur (SC), Bhagwanpur (SC), Jhabrera (SC), Pirankaliyar, Roorkee, Khanpur, Manglore, Laksar and Haridwar Rural

Rafting in troubled waters
While rafting companies accuse forest authorities
of delay in issuance of permits, the latter put the onus
of such delays on the companies for their failure
to submit a no-objection certificate in time
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
Rafting companies and state forest authorities are at loggerheads yet again. This time, it is over issuance of permits for the newly acquired white water rafting destination of River Tons in Dehradun.

Uttarakhand has some of world’s best river rapids in the Ganga, Alakananda and
Mahakali. In recent times, Tons river in Dehradun has also emerged as a popular
rafting destination.

However, a fresh row between rafting companies and forest officials has been detrimental to the growth of the place. Around five to six companies set shop at the Tons during the rafting season every year.

While rafting companies accuse forest authorities of delay in issuance of permits, the latter put the onus of such delays on the companies for their failure to submit a no-objection certificate (NOC) in time.

The certificate ensures that the rafting company has not violated any norm
during the last season.

Vaibhav Kala, director of rafting company Aquaterra, who had been conducting
the activity in Tons river for almost eight years now, squarely blames the forest
authorities for the delay in issuance of permit.

“I had applied for renewal of my license on January 2, but am yet to get any response,” Vaibhav alleged, while pointing out that there was little support for adventure tourism activities in the state.

Members of Uttaranchal’s Finest Outdoors, an association of adventure tour operators, also echoed similar sentiments.

“Rafting has immense potential here, but there is a lack of support from the government in this regard,” said Dinesh Kathait, treasurer of the association.

While acknowledging that rafting companies understood environmental concerns and safety measures in toto, Dinesh said the Association has from time to time been conducting workshops for training the guides in this regard.

He favoured a uniform policy on part of the government vis-à-vis rafting companies to promote adventure tourism in Uttarakhand.

On the other hand, Yamuna Forest Circle authorities deny any harassment of
rafting companies.

Officials said a permit could only be issued once a NOC has been obtained from the DFO concerned for the past year, which is linked to no violation of norms while camping alongside River Tons.

Notably, many times rafting companies camp in reserve forest areas in violation of norms, which allow camping only along sandy beaches.

To combat drought, Rajaji digs water holes
Most animals, particularly the pachyderms, have a tough
time during summers as most water resources go dry.
This often leads to elephants making way into human
settlements, coming into confrontation with the locals.
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
In the first-ever genuine efforts towards ensuring water needs of wild animals inside Rajaji National Park, the authorities here have dug as many as 35 water holes and managed to reach the water table.

Most of the animals here, particularly the pachyderms, have a tough time during summers as most of the water resources go dry during the season.

This often leads to elephants making way into human settlement and thus coming into direct confrontation with the locals.

“As many as 35 water holes have been built for the summers,” said Gangeshwar Pandey, warden of the Park. He informed that the water table had been tapped at a distance of 4 to 5 ft inside the ground.

Pandey also said special measures have been taken to ensure that the available water resources inside the park are put to best use.

Bricks and stones have been put across these water bodies to facilitate better surroundings. This would help elephants bathe, in addition to quenching their thirst.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from Rajaji, the Haridwar Forest Division has also decided to tap its underground water resources.

The state forest department has also played a major role in safeguarding the traditional water sources.

The development came in the wake of a report that said half of the 221 water
sources in the forest areas had dried up and there would be acute water
shortage during summers.

The state Chief Minister had then instructed the forest department to carry out the replenishing task on priority.

Soon, more flights
SMA Kazmi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 12
After the inauguration of the new terminal building of the Jollygrant airport near here last month, efforts are on to start a direct flight soon from Pantnagar airport to New Delhi linking the Kumaon region with the national capital.

According to state government officials, ‘Air Deccan’ would start its Pantnagar-New Delhi flight by March-end or in the first week of April.

For the past few years, after massive industrial development in the Terai region of Pantnagar and setting up of large number of industries including some multinational companies, there has been a demand for starting air service between Pantnagar and New Delhi. The airport at Pantnagar was developed and a new terminal was added.

According to officials, all technical requirements for starting a daily flight from Pantnagar airport has been taken care of.

Kingfisher, a private carrier that operates on the Dehradun-New Delhi route, plans to start its operations on the Pantnagar-New Delhi route also.

The company proposes to start plying Airbus on New Delhi-Jollygrant route following the expansion of the airstrip and installation of the required technical equipment.

Efforts are also on to link Jollygrant airport with Mumbai and Kolkata before the start of the Char Dham yatra season in May.

Lakhs of devotees from all over the country and abroad visit Garhwal Himalayas each year to participate in the yatra to the four important Hindu pilgrimage places of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

Meanwhile, the state government has also proposed to develop other airports in the state for air connectivity to give a boost to tourism.

The state has been bestowed with unparallelled natural beauty, but due to geographical distances in hilly terrain, the desired number of tourists are unable to reach these majestic destinations.

The state government has also pushed the proposal to develop the Naini-Saini
airport in the border district of Pitthoragarh. Uttarakhand State Infrastructure
Development Corporation Ltd (USIDCL) had invited fresh bids for the development
of the Naini-Saini Airport.

Expressions of interest (EoIs) were invited for expanding and strengthening the
runway, upgrading other related operational infrastructure and terminal facilities
at the airstrip.

The state government will invest Rs 45 crore for the upgrade and modernisation of the airport in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The government has so far spent Rs 22 crore for acquiring 17.8 hectares for the airport and 85 people have also been given compensation.

Under the modernisation plan, the airstrip will be made 1,650m long and 60m wide along with a new terminal.