Dehradun, April 30
Congress spokesman and Union Minister Anand Sharma today trained his guns on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani for unnecessarily accusing the Congress of "manipulating" and "meddling" in the affairs of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Sharma said before making utterances that have no truth, Advani should introspect. "During the NDA regime, Advani took charge of Ministry of Personnel. Since CBI comes under this Ministry and a case against Advani was pending with the Bureau, the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajyapee had to take back the charge from Advani within 24 hours," he disclosed, while ridiculing the statements of Advani. Taking a dig on the BJP leaders for making a hue and cry over the Bofors issue, Sharma said now the BJP can't assume power by exploiting this issue anymore.

"Various courts had clearly mentioned in their judgments that former Prime Minister, late Rajiv Gandhi, is absolutely clean. By raking up this issue during election time, BJP just wants to get political mileage. But this time, they won't get any success," he said.

The Congress minister also termed the BJP's claim of getting back "ill-gotten" money of the Indians lying in the Swiss banks as a mere "election stunt".

On the issue of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, he said, "The mercy petition of Afzal is scheduled at the 22nd number. Prior to his, the petitions of the killers of Rajiv Gandhi are also pending. Did the BJP ever raise questions about disposing those petitions?"

Expressing his views on the issue of terrorism, Sharma said the Indian government had already taken several steps for strengthening the internal security of the country. He said the country has witnessed all-round development during the UPA regime. "During NDA regime, the budget on education was Rs 7,000 crore whereas UPA government increased it to Rs 35,000 crore. Likewise, the funds for Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan were increased from 17,000 crore to Rs 71,000 crore in the five-year plan." he revealed.

The Congress spokesman said since BJP has no national agenda or any valid issue, they are taking up "non-issues" and are indulging in false accusations against the Congress.

"The BJP leaders are baffled and are issuing misleading statements but they will get a befitting reply from the Congress on May 16 when the results of the elections will be announced," said Sharma. 

Dehradun, April 30
With as many as 49 polling stations in the state situated far-off from motorable roads, the respective officials incharges for them will leave for these places three days prior to polls.

According to State Election Commission officials, polling parties for 49 polling stations will leave on May 10. To ensure that no voter has to travel a distance of more than three kilometres, the number of polling booths have been increased this time.

According to figures, there will be a total of 6,467 polling stations and 9,009 booths in the entire state.

Giving details, the Election Commission officials said there are around 1,752 stations for which the poll parties would have to start two days prior to elections. For the rest of the 4,666 polling stations, parties will have to start one day in advance.

“A total of 10,300 persons will be deputed for election duty. Besides, a total of 14,000 EVMs will be pressed into service,” said State Election Commissioner Radha Raturi.

Notably, there are 76 candidates of different political parties in fray. As per the final figures released by the Election Commission, as many as 57,31,277 electors will be exercising their right to vote for the five parliamentary constituencies.

According to official statistics, the total number of male and female electors in Uttarakhand stands at 29,33,387 and 27,97,890 respectively. 

Dehradun, April 30
Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said he wishes to see All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi take over the reins of the country.

Making a categorical statement on the issues of who should be the next Prime Minister of India, Shinde said, “Rahul is competent, energetic and has all the qualities to become the PM.” 

Shinde, who reached the state capital today for campaigning, said in 2004 they wanted Sonia Gandhi to accept the coveted post of PM but she refused and Dr Manmohan Singh was given the honour. “This time, the Congress has already announced that Dr Singh is the party’s prime ministerial candidate,” he said, adding that he definitely wanted to see Rahul on the PM’s chair. 

Speaking to mediapersons, Shinde said to run a nation, political stability, financial stability and a secular approach was imperative. “The volatile situation in countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh is just because of the fact that these countries lack the above mentioned elements. But India is progressing well because the economy of country has progressed a lot during the UPA regime. Likewise, political stability is there and most importantly, during past five years, there were no communal clashes,” he said. 

Dehradun, April 30
To overcome water shortage, the Jal Sansthan will be installing 243 handpumps at road heads. The government has already released funds for completion of work with the Election Commission giving the go-ahead.

Several areas in Doon are witnessing an acute shortage of water with taps running dry since the last 15 days. Residents of Shakti Colony on Cantonment Road, Sahastdhara Road, Nashvilla Road and Dhobalwala are the worst-hit. “We have been forced to rely on private tankers to meet our needs. The supply has been erratic and our storage tanks have gone dry,” said RS Bisht of Shakti Colony.

This summer, the Jal Sansthan has to meet the target of installing 243 handpumps on motorable roads. The government had released the budget for the same in March.

“In areas where handpumps cannot be installed, water tankers will supply water,” said VK Sinha, general manager-HQ, Jal Sansthan. As of now, the state has installed 5,642 handpumps in various districts.

He said areas falling in the upper zone usually faced water shortage and in places where tubewells could not be bored, water would be transported on mules.

He said handpumps had already been installed at Almora and Pauri.

Dehradun, April 30
In today’s world securing ones health comes with a price tag but in the zeal to make everything health proof, the public at large is falling prey to marketing gimmicks that may only be making tall claims lacking substance.

In the absence of correct information, people are spending thousands of rupees on water purifiers that actually may not perform all the actions simultaneously.

Experts say that the companies through their purifiers are promising too much while delivering little and they may not solve the impurity issue.

“These are all marketing gimmicks for fleecing people, none of the purifiers available can rid the water of all the impurities.

“Since government has a control over the resources, it should be their moral duty to supply potable drinking water that fulfills IS10500:1991 norms set by Bureau of Indian Standards,” said Dr Brijmohan Sharma, of Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists (SPECS).

In the state, industrial pollution that contaminates rivers is very less as compared with other towns. “Ideally all samples taken from the distribution system, including consumer’s premises should be free from E-coli form organisms.

“In practice this is not always attainable and certain standards of water collected in the distribution system is recommended,” said VK Sethi, executive engineer, Water Works Department.

We undertake routine sampling of water for Bacteriological Tests, chlorine hypo chlorite gas is added in water to remove bacterial impurities. The untreated water from the rivers may possess E-coli bacterium,” said Virender Negi, chemist, Water Works Department.

The other compounds used for removing turbidity in water are bleaching powder and alum.

He said after the filtration process, chlorine is added as a disinfectant. It is added manually; as it is injected the water gets rid of bacteria and there is no need for the water to pass through the costly purifiers.

“In fact water stored over a period of time gets infected with bacteria, that is why we recommend cleaning of water tanks and getting them disinfected through chlorine,” said Negi.

However, activists maintain that the major issue about removing hardness from water that is being supplied to Dehradun district is not being addressed.

“We have taken samples of water over a period of time that have consistently pointed out towards the presence of high deposits of calcium carbonate.

“The Water works department does not possess a water softening plant,” said Dr Sharma.

But the department maintains that hardness in water is under permissible limits.

“The desirable hardnesss of water should be around 300 PPM and the permissible limit around 600 PPM. The hardness of water tested by us of Bijapur canal and Bindal river the main supply link is 400PPM,” said Negi.

While the desirable limit of dissolved hardness in water when measured should be around 500 PPM while the permissible limit of hardness should be 2000PPM.

As of now we have only faced problem with the water being supplied to the upper zone through Galogi, the level of hardness is more than 300 PPM, but we have stopped it now as during the summers there have been reports of high contents of calcium carbonate in the water, said executive engineer VK Sinha, general manager HQ, Jal Sansthan. 

Dehradun, April 30
The board of management of DAV (PG) College, Dehradun, has issued a show-cause notice to the college principal, asking him to specify within 15 days as to why Rahul Rawat, who was ineligible for the student college election, was allowed to contest last year, thereby violating the JM Lyngdoh Committee orders.

In case the principal fails to respond to the notice within the stipulated period, he will be considered suspended from his post.

“The principal, Dr Ashok Saxena, receieved a notice from the secretary of the board of management, Kanpur, Jagendra Swarup, on April 18,” confirmed college authoritie.

The board has mentioned a number of irregularities that it said had brought a bad name to the college.

Meanwhile, the National Student Union of India (NSUI), has asked Dr Saxena, to resign on moral grounds.

State president of the NSUI Sangram Singh said: “We want his removal from the principal’s post. He has proved that he is incompetent. He has violated the Lyngdoh Committee orders by favouring Rahul Rawat.”

The NSUI leader said they would launch an agitation in case Dr Saxena failed to reply in 15 days. In August 2008, Rahul Rawat, ABVP candidate, was elected president of the DAV (PG) College Student Union.

NSUI candidate Prashant Khanduri, who had also contested the post, had made a complain to the college principal, stating that Rawat was not eligible for contesting the election as he had already been a candidate on two previous occasions.

The matter was reported to the college grievance committee, but the latter upheld the election of Rawat. Prashant then filed a writ in the Nainital High Court and the court subsequently ordered that Rawat could not be allowed to hold the post.

Derhradun, April 30
Motilal Nehru School of Sports (MNSS), Welham's Girls School 'Blues' and Punjab Public School won their respective matches at the 3rd Welham Girls School All-India Golden Jubilee Basketball Tournament underway at Welham's Girls School, here today.

In the first match, MNSS beat Welham's Girls School 'White' by 54-40. MNSS lagged behind in the first quarter by one point, but picked up in the second and third quarters to clinch the title.

In the second match, Welham Girls School 'Blues' defeated Punjab Public School by 40-15. They dominated the game right through.

In the third match, MNSS team beat Modern School by 19-16.

The fourth match between Wood Stock School and Punjab Public School was keenly contested. The latter won 24-20.