Dehradun, July 2
Member of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) Dhirendra Pratap today opened a front against former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen. BC Khanduri (retd). He accused Khanduri of misusing government funds by giving advertisements in various newspapers on June 27, which highlighted achievements of the state government during his two-year tenure as CM.

He alleged that after stepping down as CM of the state, Khanduri had no moral right to waste the funds meant for the welfare of masses.

Pratap has also knocked the doors of Uttarakhand Lokayukta MM Ghildiyal. Besides demanding a public apology from Khanduri, Pratap has said the former CM should pay back the money wasted on the advertisement from his own pocket.

Speaking to mediapersons at the Congress headquarters here this morning, Pratap said, “When Khanduri had resigned from the post of CM, issuing advertisements of his achievements was totally uncalled for and tantamounts to sheer wastage of public money for cheap publicity. The advertisements appeared on June 27, the day when Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank took oath as the new CM.”

He alleged that it was unfortunate that despite knowing that the state was reeling under financial crisis, Khanduri issued such advertisements. Pratap disclosed that apart from the Lokayukta, he would also approach Uttarakhand Governor BL Joshi in this regard. “There are so many Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the state. It really hurts that instead of doing some good to such people, Khanduri wasted money for cheap publicity. He could have utilised these funds for welfare of the state,” he asserted

He added that there was need to formulate some sort of code of conduct to ensure that funds are not misused in such manner.

Dehradun, July 2
Even as the coming annual state budget 2009-10 is most likely to be a deficit budget, Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal has said it would be an attractive one for people of all walks of life.

Analysts said that his statement implies that the government may refrain from imposing new taxes.

At the same time, it will be interesting to see how he works out this pro-people direction of the budget given the challenging task of identifying new resources of revenue to finance the yawning fiscal deficit.

The task is indeed challenging as the state budget is to be presented a few days after he became Chief Minister.

The state finance department has already begun the budgetary exercise so that it is presented in the budget session of Uttarakhand Assembly that is scheduled to begin from July 13.

Due to recent parliamentary election, the Assembly had, during the two-day session in February, passed vote-on-account worth Rs 5,209 crore to meet the day-to-day expenditure of the government for four months.

The CM discussed the budget preparations with his new council of ministers which was expanded yesterday.

He instructed the finance department to give final touches to the budget within a week. He is believed to have discussed the status of fiscal deficit, the loan liabilities and new ways to increase the government receipts.

Since analysts have observed that it would most likely be a deficit budget, the government will have to marshal all resources at its command to give the budget desired direction.

The main reason for the fiscal imbalance is the unprecedented increase in the non-plan expenditure.

Dehradun, July 2
Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today said a cultural centre should be set up at New Tehri in remembrance of historical buildings that were immersed when the Tehri dam was constructed.

Referring to the Clock Tower, Rajmahal, Old Darbar, Badrinath Temple et al, which are now under the water in Old Tehri, Pokhriyal said, “In remembrance of the heritage of Old Tehri, there is a need to set up a cultural centre in New Tehri.”

Sharing these views with the Managing Director of Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) RST Shahi, the CM said setting up of a cultural centre would also help boost tourism in New Tehri.

He also told Shahi that the state government was ready to extend cooperation in this regard.

Pokhriyal also asked Shahi to ensure that work on the second and third phases of the Tehri project should be accelerated so that the deadlines are met.

Shahi informed the CM that due to water shortage the target of generation of 1,000 MW of power in the first phase was not being met as of now.

“But as water level will increase, the generation will be as per the target,” he disclosed, while adding that Uttarakhand was getting revenue amounting to Rs 120 crore annually from its 12 per cent share of power in Tehri project.

Meanwhile, the CM directed Principal Secretary Subhash Kumar to convene a meeting with the authorities of THDC, Tehri district administration and rehabilitation department, in order to sort out the problems being faced by the people in Tehri.

He instructed Kumar to speed up the cases related with rehabilitation of the people in Tehri.

Directions have also been issued to the authorities concerned to provide details of the revenue collection from Uttarakhand’s share of 12 per cent power from Tehri project.

Haridwar, July 2
In view of the Kanwar season beginning next week and the violence associated with the Kanwariyas in the past few years, Battalion 108 of the Rapid Action Force has reached the holy city to maintain security in the first phase of the two-and-a-half-week-long Kanwar season.

As Haridwar is a sensitive area, it has been brought under the purview of the Rapid Action Force (RAF).

The Kanwar Mela attracts about half a crore devotees from states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and New Delhi. The RAF platoon is being commanded by Assistant Commandant V Shrikant. The state government has formed the 108-RAF battalion to maintain law and order in the sensitive areas of the state. The battalion will guard the city till July 9.

The battalion staged a flag march and also helped the police remove encroachments especially at the mela zone. 

Dehradun, July 2
The Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) is mulling ‘scaling’ of the internal assessment, called sessional marks, to check arbitrariness on part of engineering and management institutes.

Many academically bright students suffer due to its alleged misuse by the institutes.

In the wake of frequent complaints, UTU authorities have now decided to adopt the method of scaling so that these in-house assessment marks are in accordance with the performance of the students in the university examination.

Vice Chancellor Prof Durg Singh Chauhan said, “Scaling of these marks given by each institute will help remove this disparity and ensure justice to hardworking students.

“So it is being devised in a manner that the performance in the university examination gets 95 per cent weightage while the remaining 5 per cent be kept for sessional marks,” he said.

The move will bring about uniformity in the sessional marks awarded by all affiliated institutes.

There are about 50 engineering institutes in the state.

Since most of them are privately managed, these institutes allegedly resort to arbitrariness to show better results.

As of now, there is no uniformity on the maximum marks to be awarded on this count.

In some institutes, the limit is 40 marks while in others, it is 50 marks. For instance, the institutes have earmarked 50 marks in five papers in each semester of the B.Tech course.

At the same time, 25 marks each in three practical subjects are at the discretion of the institutes.

Roorkee, July 2
Counselling for all reserved category candidates who could not qualify the IIT-JEE and are being called for the preparatory course would be held on July 6 and 7 at all the Indian Institute of Technologies across the country. Preparatory course is held for those reserved category students whose names appear in the ‘preparatory rank list’. Those who have not scored minimum marks for entering the merit list fall in this category. The course is meant to prepare reserved category students for the next IIT-JEE exam.

The number of seats in the IITs for preparatory course depends on the number of vacant seats in all the institutes every year.

This year, 1,002 seats are vacant in all reserved categories, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Physical Disability (GE, OBC, SC and ST), at all the 17 institutes across the country. The total number of vacant seats in SC category is 337 while in other reserved categories, including ST, PD (GE), PD (OB), PD (SC) and PD (ST), the number of vacant seats are 458, 109, 40, 35 and 23, respectively.

ISMU, Dhanbad, tops the list with the highest number of vacant seats (248), whereas at IIT, Indore, the number of vacant seats is just nine.

At IIT-Roorkee, as many as 118 reserved students will get a chance for preparatory courses this year, as 118 seats (SC-49, ST-41, PD (GE)-14, PD (OB)-6, PD (SC)-5 and PD (ST)-3), have been declared vacant. At IIT-Bombay, 36 seats are lying vacant.

Dr Pradeep, chairman of IITJEE cell (Roorkee), said counselling for all SC/ST candidates called for the course would take place on July 6 at their respective zones, while PD candidates’ counselling would be held only at IIT, Delhi, Madras and Guwahati, on July 6 and 7.

At Roorkee, counselling for SC/ST candidates will be held at Senate Hall from 9 am on July 6, informed Dr Pradeep.

Dehradun, July 2
The old and permanently ailing sewage systems of Dehradun and Mussoorie are expected to get a facelift under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) renovation and improvement programme.

The benefits for Dehradun, a city that is growing in leaps and bounds, are immense. The plan envisages setting up of six sewage treatment plants in the city. The work on these plants is expected to begin this year.

Under the JNNURM, Rs 54.65 crore have been allocated. The amount will be utilised for renovation, improvement of the existing sewer system and construction of sewage treatment plants.

The greater part of the city’s sewage system was laid during the pre-independence era. Even today, several areas do not have proper underground sewer lines.

The sewage either goes straight to the two main rivers - Bindal and Rispana - or spills on to the streets.

“The dilapidated sewer system will be overhauled and sewage treatment plants will be constructed under JNNURM for isolated pockets of Jakhan, Vijay Colony, Salawala and Indira Nagar with a capacity of 7.13mld each,” said Prabhat Raj, Executive Engineer, Peyjal Nigam.

In addition, the ADB programme envisages to improve the quality and quantity of water supply and also the sewage system of the catchment areas of Bindal and Rispana for which tenders have already been floated.

“The programme envisages sewage network improvement, augmentation and construction of treatment plants. A 68mld treatment plant will come up at Bindal catchment area and 40mld treatment plant at Rispana.

In certain areas of Dalanwala, the network of sewer lines will be extended,” said Prabhat Raj.

The major drawback of Rispana catchment area is the negative gradient of the existing sewage pipelines that prevent fluent passage of waste. This too is expected to be altered.

For Mussoorie, which too has an old and cracking drainage system, 10 sewage treatment plants are planned under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Middle Towns.

“Most of the sewage system will be overhauled for which tenders have been floated. The cost of the projects has been pegged at Rs 61.73 crore,” added Prabhat Raj.