Dehradun, July 15
The Uttarakhand Assembly witnessed unruly scenes with Opposition Congress members staging a walkout in the post-lunch session on the third day of the Budget session demanding immediate discussion on the Dixit Commission report on the permanent capital issue.

Raising the issue during zero hour, the Congress and BSP members led by Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat alleged that the government had misled the House by tabling only a part of the report. It had mentioned in its agenda that it would table the entire report.

Asking the Speaker to take cognisance of the matter, they said the action of the government “tantamount to contempt of the House” and trooped into the well of the House.

The Speaker, however, asked the members to take their seats but they continued to raise their demand. Later, Congress members staged a walkout over the issue.

Tax slashed: Cinema owners expect gains 
Divya Semwal
Tribune news service

Dehradun, July 15
Reduction in entertainment tax on the basis of cost price of tickets, declared by Chief minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal, in the budget is turning cinema owners happy with high expectations of drawing large number of crowd to their halls.

During the undivided Uttar Pradesh, the tax on cinema halls was almost 100 per cent giving no room for profits to the owners.

And there was no scope for improvement in developing better infrastructure for the halls.

However, after Uttarakhand became a separate state, the tax in the initial stages was reduced to 60 per cent and again in April 2008 it was reduced by another 40 per cent.

In the budget proposal this year, there would be an additional rebate of 20 per cent on the ticket of Rs 25, 30 per cent rebate on the ticket of Rs 26 to 50, and 40 per cent rebate on the tickets of Rs 50 and above for the year 2009.

Chaudhary Ram Bahadur manager Orient Cinema Hall said, “Though we haven’t got the notifications from the entertainment department. But we are very happy with the reduction in the entertainment tax and we feel that now gradually the deplorable conditions of cinema halls will improve,” he said.

Discussing this issue deputy commissioner, Entertainment Tax Sher Singh Pokriya said, “Last year since April when we made the entertainment tax to flat 40 per cent, the entertainment department as well the cinema goers couldn’t benefit as curtailing the price of the tickets is beyond our control.

“In this year’s budget we have classified the rebate on the basis of the cost price of the tickets as we want the movie lovers to benefit.”

He further said that it will also act as tonic to cinema owners to improve the conditions of halls and once the budget comes into play the middle class group will especially get benefited.

Haridwar, July 15
Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) has bagged a Rs 6,400 million contract for setting up a thermal power plant in Jharkhand. The deal is for one new rating unit of 270 MW at the Greenfield power project in Jamshedpur district.

BHEL’s good showing can be gauged by the fact that in the current financial year, the company has bagged orders worth Rs 1,30,000 million, mostly from private sector players.

BHEL spokesman said that the company has state-of-the-art technology for the manufacture of thermal sets up to 1,000 MW and it has introduced thermal sets of 270 MW, 525 MW and 600 MW to meet growing industrial demands.

The company has a major share in the national market. All major Indian industrial players like Jindal Power, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Hindalco, HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd, GVK Power, Tatas, ACC, Adani Power are customers of BHEL.

“In the current fiscal, the installed capacity of BHEL-supplied utility sets has gone up to 87,646 MW and the company has maintained its share of 64 per cent in the country's total installed capacity of 1,38,175 MW” said SK Tyagi, DGM, BHEL

Muscleman fund-starved, to meet CM 
Vishal Thakur
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 14
Rahul Bisht is finding it difficult to arrange funds for his trip to Iran to participate in the Asian Bodybuilding Championship slated to take place from August 2 to 7.

A total of six Indian bodybuilders have been selected to participate in the competition.

Rahul Bisht had won a gold at the South Asia Bodybuilding Championship that was held in Varanasi in April.

Now, he is preparing for the Asian Bodybuilding Championship for the title of Mr Asia.

But he feels that arranging funds for the Asian Championship would not be easy. He said that the five-day-long Asian Championship would cost him between Rs 1-2 lakh that includes his diets, boarding and lodging.

Rahul is planning to meet Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to ask for financial assistance.

Till date, the championships in which he has participated were held on Indian soil, including the South Asian Championship. Hence, the cost of participating came to around Rs 3,000 per competition.

Rahul is not the only one facing the fund crunch.

“Most bodybuilders face this situation in the beginning of their career.

“While some are able to manage funds for themselves, others, despite being in good shape, fail to participate in competitions due to lack of money.

“My counterpart from Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Bahadur, who has also been selected for the Asian Competition is facing the same problem,” said Rahul.

The expenses incurred by Rahul on his diet comes to around Rs 14,000 per month.

“Some part of my monthly expenditure is borne by my family. For the rest, I work as a coach in a gym.” Out of Rs 14,000, Rs 10,000 gets spent on various supplements he eats.

Rahul’s father Jagmohan Singh Bisht is a storekeeper in the Roadways and his mother is a housewife.

Along with bodybuilding and working in a gymnasium, Rahul is pursuing MA (English).

Rahul has won gold medals at Ford Plus All-India Bodybuilding Championship held in Calcutta 2009, All-India Inter-University 2008-09, All-India Inter-University 2006-07, All-India Inter University 2005-06 and Overall Title in All-India University 2006-07.

Prior to Rahul, Mukesh Thakur was only participant from Uttarakhand who has participated at the Asian Championship in 2007. He had won a silver medal at the competition.

CII proposals accepted
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 15
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Uttarakhand State Council, has hailed the state Budget for 2009-10 tabled by Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in the assembly here yesterday.

In his reaction, Chairman of the council Rakesh Oberoi said that it was laudable that the state government has not levied any new tax in the Budget.

“The focus of the Budget is on inclusive growth, infrastructure development, tourism, education and skill development, employment and enterprise creation.

“This will lead to all-round development of the state and is in line with CII’s recommendations to the state government in its pre-budget memorandum,” he said while adding that many of the CII recommendations had been found a place in the Budget.

Oberoi said that the abolition of additional stamp duty in urban areas, construction of Muzzaffarnagar-Roorkee railway line, four-laning of Jollygrant-Raipur-Thano route in Dehradun, measures to improve air connectivity, better transport services and the efforts to leverage opportunities for Urban Infrastructure Development provided by the JNNURM would go a long way in improving physical infrastructure of the state.

Oberoi also appreciated initiatives announced for rural development in the Budget.

He said that Atal Adarsh Gram Yojna and Dev Bhoomi Mushan Yojna would ensure inclusive development in the state.

“The development of tourism infrastructure on the Char Dham yatra route and eco-tourism spots under the Rural Tourism scheme are noteworthy proposals announced by the government.

“This will help the state leverage its competitive advantage in the spiritual and eco-tourism segment,” he said.

Oberoi said that measures to strengthen healthcare services in the state, computerisation of sales tax department, initiatives for promoting the handloom and handicraft sector, rural development and extension of ongoing welfare schemes and reduction in entertainment tax are the other good steps in the Budget.

Roorkee, July 15
Today’s heavy rain has exposed the poor drainage conditions and the inadequate arrangements of the authorities to deal with the waterlogging problem here today.

While several residential areas witnessed the flood-like situations after the four-hour-long rain, which started around 7 in the morning.

The Railway Police Colony was the worst affected where most of the houses were inundated in over four-feet rainwater.

The residents were seen struggling to shift their goods to the first floors or on any higher place in the house. Despite their efforts the furniture and electrical goods in houses got damaged.

The other effected areas were Purani Tehsil, Machi Mohalla, Subhash Nagar, Civil Lines Bazaar and some parts of Ramnagar.

The authorities admit that the old-age drainage system is the main reason behind the problem. “Here the drainage system is over 150 years old. Most of the parts of the city, mainly in old Roorkee, the drainage of the houses depend on the ‘nallahs’.

Now with the manifold increase in the population and expansion of the city, these ‘nallahs’ are proving insufficient. We have requested the authorities several times to increase the depth of these ‘nallahs’ but to no avail”, rued Tarsem Lal, a resident.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand experienced yet another day of rains today. While Garhwal experienced a good rainfall, Kumaon region experienced intermittent rains.

Joshimath in Chamoli district experienced 35 mm of rainfall and Chinyalison registered 33 mm rainfall. Thirty-two millimeters of rainfall was experienced in Barkot whereas Tehri and Uttarakashi experienced 9 mm and 28 mm of rainfall, respectively.

Dehradun Meteorological Department informed that the rainfall was likely to continue in the state for next 24 hours.

For the first time since the arrival of monsoon, the rains that started during early morning hours in the city continued for most part of the day. A total of 7 mm of rains were experienced in the capital.

Most of the residents kept off from roads that were drenched with rains even as school-going children had tough time braving the downpour.

The administration too had recently introduced a change in the school timings in Dehradun due to the rains.

Dehradun, July 15
City Young team registered a narrow 2-1 victory over Vijay Cantt team at the ongoing District Football League at Pavilion Ground, here today.

City Young team used its experienced well to take over the match. Vijay Cantt team was much more agile then City Young but their inexperience cost them the match.

In the first half Vijay Cantt team created a sharp move from the left in the 4th minute of the match. But its forward played a back pass to break the team's move.

City Young team made a counter attack from the right to take the Vijay Cantt defense by surprise. But its forward played a rush shot that made the ball sailed over the bar. City Young opened their account in the 16th minute of the match, through Sagar Sahi who scored a wonderful goal. Vijay Cantt team found an equaliser in the 20th minute of the match through Amit Thapa.

Thereafter, Vijay Cantt team came close on scoring a goal on many occasions but failed to convert its chances into goals. At the end of first half both the team were locked at 1-1.

In the second half City Young team came with a different strategy and played offensive football. They created number of good moves from the very beginning.

There efforts finally paid in the 20th minute of the match when BM Bhatt managed to put a foot in line to the cross received from the right make it 2-1 for City Young team.

Meanwhile, in the second match Sunderwala Boys team and Doon United team played a 1-1 draw. In the first half Sunderwala Boys team dominated the first half.

Sunderwala team took a lead in the in the 23rd minute of the match through Himanshu to make it 1-0 for the team. Doon United team tried hard to find an equaliser in the first half but failed.

In the second half Doon United team came back strongly. They fetched an equaliser in the 50th minute of the match through Sagar who neatly placed the ball in Sunderwala Boys nets. 

Dehradun, July 15
Admission forms of DAV (PG) College of various streams are available at the college premises from today. On the first day rain did disrupts the sales of the forms as very few students turned up at the counters.

Meanwhile, the Teachers Association of the college is still adamant over their resolve of not to participate in the admission process till new principal is appointed.

Secretary of the association, Divendra Tyagi said that the association has decided not to corporate with the present principal, Ashok Kumar. He said that unless the new principal is being appointed association has decided to stay away from admission activity. The college session will start from 24th July.

He further revealed this year University has decided to have back paper for the various subjects as were held before.

Forest report likely by October
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 15
There will be no more delay in the release of the State of Forests Report, the biannual report on forest cover in the country that is considered the most authentic database for formulation of policy and programmes linked to forestry.

The Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI) that prepares the report for the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is working against time to ensure that at least the State of Forests Report 2007 is released by the second week of October.

For many years, there have been delays in the report’s release.

The State of Forest Report 2005 was released in 2008, a delay of three years.

The report is prepared by the FSI who hands over it over to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Union Minister of State of Forest and Environment (independent charge) Jairam Ramesh, who recently visited the FSI, has laid emphasis on the timely release of the report.

FSI officials, who work on satellite imagery data for the preparation of the report, also go on field visits across the country to ensure that the imagery is full proof and there is very little possibility of flaw en course of its interpretations. Apart from providing the report, the department also sells maps both in hard copy and CDs to its clients.

The accuracy level of the FSI report has even been acknowledged abroad as the margin of error stands at a miniscule seven per cent.

Published in both English and Hindi, the FSI report is even referred to by the country’s courts, state Forest Departments, voluntary organisations and universities.