Haridwar, April 23
Most of the candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Haridwar are millionaires as per the affidavits filed by them along with their nominations papers.

Samajwadi Party candidate Ambrish Kumar (60) has Rs 1 lakh in cash, Rs 71,900 as deposits in non-banking financial institutions, 1,600 square ft of non-agricultural land having a market value of Rs 16 lakh, 0.2230 hectares of agricultural land, other financial documents worth Rs 6,15,000, one car, two commercial multi-utility jeeps, a commercial building and a house priced at Rs 5 lakh.

Swami Yatindranad Giri, a saint who has been conferred the title of Mahamandeleshwar, has Rs 25,000 in cash and Rs 86,719 deposited in banks and other financial institutions. He owns a car and has 0.1132 hectares of agricultural land, besides 0.2230 hectares of non-agricultural land. The Swami also owns a commercial building and a house priced at Rs 5 lakh.

Congress leader Harish Rawat is also not far behind He has Rs 2.50 lakh in cash and savings of Rs 42,16,773 lakh. Added to it are NSC/LIC policies worth Rs 5 lakh. He owns jewellery worth Rs 2,40,000 in addition to gold worth Rs 30,000. He also has agricultural land worth Rs 4.50 lakh and 400 sq metre of non-agricultural land.

Although Rawat belongs to Almora, he has a 350 sq metre plot in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, which according to an international agency survey is the fastest growing urban city in India. Rawat also owns a petrol pump in the name of his wife Renu Rawat in New Delhi, apart from Rs 1.50 lakh of property. Against liabilities, the affidavit speaks of a loan of Rs 10,57,815 taken in the name of his wife and Rawat.

Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Mohammed Shahzad has Rs 1,58,000 in cash with bank deposits worth Rs 81,642. He has Kisan Vikas Patras worth Rs 27,000, NSS certificates worth Rs 5000, a farm tractor and a jeep. Shahzad owns agricultural land worth Rs 46 lakh and non-agricultural land worth Rs 12 lakh, a commercial building worth Rs 50 lakh, 12 buffaloes, five cows, two shops and other properties worth Rs 9 lakh. He also owns a revolver and a licenced rifle.

Independent Ram Sharan has Rs 60,000 in cash, a scooter and gold worth Rs 58, 000. Rashtriya Kranti Dal candidate Mufti Mohammed Akbar has Rs 30,000 deposits in banks and other financial institutions. He owns eight bighas of agricultural land and a commercial establishment worth Rs 2 lakh.

Lok Trantrik Janata Party candidate Nar Singh has Rs 15,000 cash, insurance and other bonds worth Rs 60,000, a motorcycle, ornaments worth Rs 20,000, a residential house worth Rs 4 lakh.

Ajay Kathooriya, also an Independent, has to his credit Rs 25,000 in cash, Rs 3,000 savings as bank deposits, life insurance policy worth Rs 6 lakh, a car and ornaments worth Rs 1,5000.

Hindu Rashtriya Awami Hukook candidate Mohammed Murshlin Kureshi, has a cycle, a house worth Rs 8 lakh and gold worth Rs 1 lakh.

Pushpa Saini, also an Independent, has Rs 25,000 cash, Rs 25,808 bank deposits, jewellery worth Rs 2.4 lakh, two cars, a couple of houses and a flat worth Rs 5 lakh. 

Roorkee, April 23
Today, the Congress got a shot in the arm when ‘kisan’ leader Rakesh Tikait announced the support of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) to the party in the ensuing elections. Rakesh Tikait, son of BKU president Mahendra Singh Tikait, is the national spokesman of the union.

Tikait, along with several supporters, turned up at the local party office in the morning and announced that the union would extend its support to all Congress candidates in the state.

“Every time, the Congress takes up the reins of the country, the problems of the farmers are always well-addressed.

“The party knows our basic problems and also works in the direction to solve them,” said Tikait in his brief address to party workers.

He also praised the Congress for waiving farmers’ loans.

Lashing out at the BJP, the kisan leader said that the BJP state government has brought to nought all developments in the state. “Even the industries that had come to the state in large numbers during ND Tewari’s regime have started withdrawing.

“The government is also just anti-farmers,” said Tikait.

Congress leader Harish Rawat, who is contesting the Haridwar seat, and district Congress president Rajinder Chowdhary were also present to welcome Tikait.

“The support of the union is a good sign for us. We (Congress) always support the cause of farmers and work hard for their welfare. If voted to power, we will live up to the expectations of the community,” said Rawat.

The BKU, which is dominated by the Jat community, has a stronghold on farmers here.

Dehradun, April 23
Sitting MP and BJP candidate from Pauri Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd) today filed his nomination papers at the local court. Prior to filing of his nomination, Chief Minister BC Khanduri, while addressing a gathering at the Ram Lila Ground in Pauri, appealed the electors to vote for the BJP. 

Coming down heavily on the UPA government for "ignoring" the issues and interests of Uttarakhand, Khanduri said it was ridiculous that rather than accepting their failure Congress leaders were trying to befool the masses by portraying UPA government as "progressive".

Khanduri said in order to ensure progress of the country LK Advani should become the Prime Minister. While claiming that BJP has never been partial with any religion or section of the society, Khanduri said the NDA has always worked to safeguard the interests of the common man.

Former state CM and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, in his address, said the previous Congress regime in Uttarakhand failed to do anything constructive for the state. He also accused the UPA government of discontinuing various projects sanctioned during the NDA regime.

"It is unfortunate that UPA has put a demand of Rs 320 crore for the drought-affected districts of Uttarakhand in cold storage," he rued. Continuing with UPA bashing, Uttarakhand Health Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the Union government has not taken any steps for setting up of the AIIMS at Rishikesh.

Meanwhile, prominent among others, who were present at the rally included Uttarakhand BJP president Bachi Singh Rawat, Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Irrigation, Water Resources and Flood Control Minister Matbar Singh Kandari. 

Dehradun, April 23
The Bharatiya Janata Party national vice- president and former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Shanta Kumar, who is also the party's election incharge for Uttarakhand, today said the Congress and "corruption" are synonymous.

He alleged that during the Congress regime corruption has touched new heights. "Since Congress leaders themselves are neck-deep in corruption, they have never taken any initiative to get the 'black money' back from Swiss Banks," he alleged.

Addressing mediapersons at the BJP headquarters here today, Shanta said now the era of single party system in India has ended. "We are now into coalition politics and it is only NDA which can give a stable government at the Centre.

The credit of running a coalition government for full five year goes to NDA," he claimed, while adding that UPA is "disintegrated", as most of their alliance partners, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Prasad Yadav, have deserted the Congress.

Taking a dig, Shanta said the UPA had crumbled even before the elections. He added that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is "begging" for support from communists. "This clearly shows the weakness of the PM and the Congress," he said.

The BJP leader alleged that in order to grab power Congress is taking the support of smaller parties, which do not have any ideology. Shanta said the reins of the country should not be handed over to BSP supremo Mayawati or RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. He said the country needs an "experienced" and "mature" politician for the post of Prime Minister and only LK Advani is suitable for the post.

"In the current political scenario, NDA is the only party that can form a stable government and we are hopeful of constituting the next government," he said.

Dehradun, April 23
While the rest of the country will be through with the general election on May 13 on completion of the last phase of polling, Uttarakhand will continue to remain in the grip of election fever with the Election Commission coming out with the election schedule for the Kapkot assembly byelection.

The Kapkot seat was vacated by former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari following his election to the Rajya Sabha.

Notification for the byelection will be issued on May 4 with nominations till May 11 and polling on May 28. The counting of votes will be undertaken on June 1.

After Kapkot, byelection for the Vikasnagar assembly seat will be due with Munna Singh Chauhan resigning his seat to contest the Tehri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat as a BSP candidate.

Interestingly, the election process has put on hold various projects with the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct ever since the assembly elections in February 2007.

Chief Minister BC Khanduri resigned from his Pauri Garhwal parliamentary constituency to enter the assembly from the Dhumakot assembly segment in August 2007.

Then the byelection for the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat was held in February 2008.

From March till June 2008, panchayat and civic elections were held in the state. .

Chief Minister Khanduri has been cribbing about frequent elections and the Model Code of Conduct hampering announcements of developmental projects.

He has been pleading for simultaneous elections for various democratic bodies.

Haridwar, April 23
The Haridwar police today arrested a person with 2.5 kg marijuana (doda). On a tip-off, Kankhal police station incharge KS Rana with a team went to the Kumarghada area where they found Lal Man, son of Ram Ashrey, in a suspicious condition late last night.

He tried to flee but police constables nabbed Lal Man and seized 2.5 kg ‘doda’ in a packet. Lal Man later confessed to having purchased it to sell in the market.

Dehradun, April 23
In a major relief to commuters travelling between Dehradun and Delhi, the Railway Board has given its nod to the Muzaffar Nagar-Roorkee rail line for Uttarakhand. Once the project is complete, it will shorten the distance between Dehradun and Delhi by at least one-and-a-half hours.

The decision to clear the Rs 160 crore project was taken during a high-level meeting of the officials of the Railway Board including Railway Board chairman SS Khurana and Uttarakhand Government held under the headship of Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pandey in New Delhi yesterday.

According to officials, the state government will bear 50 per cent of the expenses of the 49-km-long Muzaffar Nagar-Roorkee line and the rest of it would be borne by the Railway Board.

The government will pay the first instalment of Rs 20 crore to the Railways within a month’s time.

The state government has also constituted a state-level coordination committee under the headship of secretary transport.

The clearance of the project is likely to help in boosting the local infrastructure of the hill state that is currently plagued by bad roads.

Apart from the clearance to Muzaffar Nagar-Roorkee rail line, the board has also given permission to kick-start the work on the Dehradun-Kalsi line.

The board has also given its consent to construct 15 railway over bridges (ROBs) with the Railways and the government sharing 50 per cent of the total cost.

The board officials also informed that a special weekend tourist package train from New Delhi for the famous Jim Corbett National Park in the Kumaon region would be started soon.

Besides, a new Shatabdi train between New Delhi and Kathgodam is also in the offing.

The board has, however, termed the Rishikesh-Karanprayag project unviable.

In order to give a boost to the infrastructure sector in state, the Indian Railways was contemplating trains from Rishikesh to the hill town of Karanprayag but now railway officials are of the opinion that the Rs 4,500 crore Rishikesh-Karanprayag project is not commercially viable, as the internal rate of return (IRR) was very low.

During the meeting, it was also decided that for faster movements of trains, additional loop lines for the Kansro railway station, which falls under the Rajaji National Park, should be constructed.

The state forest authorities, however, stated that the loop lines should not obstruct free movement of elephants in Rajaji Park.

The forest authorities also wanted the Railways not to create obstructions in forest areas.

Dehradun, April 23
Royal Cricket Club emerged victorious at the Khalanga Cricket Tournament defeating Rao Cricket Academy by five wickets in the final at Tapovan here today.

Mukesh was judged Man of the Series as he contributed 217 runs and took seven wickets. Nitin Goyal, who made 206 runs, took the Best Batsman award.

Biri of Kiran XI team was declared Best Catcher. Yash Rana of Royal Club bagged the Best Fielder award. Senior Congress leader Hira Singh Bisht, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes.

Batting first, Rao Cricket Academy went on to score 94 runs in their allotted 20 overs.

Rao Cricket Academy began on a poor note as opener Rahul went for a duck and the other opener could only manage to score five runs off nine balls.

First-down batsman Amit Lara too could not do much and was out at the score of 10 runs.

Pradeep tried to stabilise the innings and occupied the crease for long to score 20 runs off 35 balls.

Lower-order batsman Ankush scored 23 runs off 15 balls. For Royal Cricket Club, Sanjay, Sandeep and Sushil took two wickets each.

Chasing 95 runs for victory, Royal Cricket Club reached the target in 15.4 overs with five wickets in hand.

Opening batsman Raman smashed 30 runs off 27 balls smashing one four and three sixes.

First-down batsman Pankaj smashed 20 runs off 17 balls.

For Rao Cricket Academy, Rahul was the leading wicket-taker with three wickets. Bhupender and Sheetal took one wicket each.