Dehradun, July 31
After suffering a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the State Executive Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today met for the first time at Vikasnagar.

Although earlier the venue for the meeting was fixed at Nainital, but in wake of the coming Vikasnagar bypoll the venue was shifted.

Various issues came up for discussion during the meeting, which was attended by Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, state BJP chief Bachi Singh Rawat, incharge of party's Uttarakhand affairs Krishan Murari Moghe, state office-bearers, districts presidents and all senior party functionaries.

Giving details of the meeting that continued for over five hours, BJP general secretary (organisation) Naresh Bansal said deliberations regarding the Vikasnagar bypoll were held during the meeting.

"It has been conveyed to the party's rank and file that victory in the Vikasnagar byelection is the main target as of now," he revealed.

The Vikasnagar constituency fell vacant after BJP legislator Munna Singh Chauhan resigned as MLA to contest Lok Sabha election.

Furthermore, with Congress likely to field former minister Navprabhat, winning this seat will be an acid test for Nishank who has taken over as the CM just a month ago.

Insiders in BJP revealed that Nishank wants to retain the Vikasnagar seat at any cost and instructions have already been issued to the party rank and file to work in a coordinated manner in this direction.

Beside this, the state executive also resolved to launch a massive agitation against the Congress-led UPA government. "The partial attitude of the Union government towards Uttarakhand has adversely affected development in the hill state. Every time, whether the Union Budget, Railway Budget or other issues, the state is being ignored just because of the fact that it is ruled by BJP. Therefore BJP has decided to launch a massive agitation against the Central government," said Naresh Bansal.

Apart from this, the party also decided to start a membership drive in the state. As of now, the party leadership has set a target of enrolling five lakh members.

"Special emphasis would be laid on strengthening the party base in the state," disclosed a senior BJP leader, while adding that discussions on the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections were also held during the meeting.

Dehradun, July 31
Inspector General (IG), stamp duty and registration department, has ordered a detailed inquiry into the mysterious disappearance of a sale deed document from the office of the sub-registrar, Dehradun.

The enquiry has been marked on the basis of the preliminary enquiry report submitted by the ADM (finance) Sushil Kumar Sharma.

The report confirmed that document number 9041 was missing from the office since 2006.

It has held two employees guilty in the case and FIRs have been registered against both the at Kotwali police station. One of the employees has since retired from service.

The case came to light when the purchaser of the property approached the sub-registrar office to get the original deed documents, but the same could not be made available to him for four months.

Fed up with the delaying tactics of the employees, he complained against them in May 2007.

The matter has been hanging fire since then.

However, Sharma said it would now be investigated in detail by the office of IG, stamp duty and registration.

The IG office ordered the enquiry after a third person, Bhupender Kumar, approached the state information commission under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

The commission in turn sought a report from the ADM (finance) who prepared it and submitted a copy each to the commission as well as the IG, stamp duty and registration department.

On the basis of it, the latter has now appointed DIG, stamp duty and registration, Nainital, Ambrish Chander Bharti, as the enquiry officer.

Dehradun, July 31
Uttarakhand police today celebrated the Public Complaints Redressal Day in various districts of the state.

Inspector General Garhwal Range MA Ganapathy himself listened around 30 complaints of people who had come from various parts of the Garhwal range.

Ganapathy said that Uttarakhand Police have always laid great emphasis on the speedy redressal of the problems being faced by the people.

He further stated that in case the complaints are not properly redressed at the Police Station level, the complainant can approach Superintendent of Police, Senior Superintendent of Police or even Inspector General.

Giving the figures of the complaints received today, officials disclosed that maximum complaints were received from Haridwar.

A total of 471 complainants approached the police officials.

While 426 complaints were disposed off on the spot, rest were referred to the concerned cops. Haridwar was followed by Dehradun as 195 complaints came from the state capital.

Around 180 complaints were disposed off.

From Uttarakashi as many 26 complaints were received out of which 21 were disposed off on the spot while the rest were referred to the concerned officials.

In Tehri Garhwal, 31 complaints were received and total of 29 were resolved. Likewise, in Chamoli, from total of 14 complaints, 12 were disposed off on the spot.

From Rudrprayag, four complaints were sorted out and one was sent to the officials concerned.

From Parui Garhwal district, 26 complaints were received and all of them were disposed off today.

Meanwhile, in Roorkee the Superintendent of Police (Rural) Ajay Joshi and ASP Arun Mohan Joshi listened the grievances and disputes of around 25 persons.

The senior police officials instructed their subordinates to take immediate action to solve the issues came today.

The day is being observed every month at every police station in the state under special campaign, started by the DGP.

Bhagwanpur, July 31
Regular power cuts here have hit the industry hard and many businessmen at the newly set up Bhagwanpur industrial town informed that production levels have dipped by more than 50 per cent this year.

The industrial town, 20 kms from Roorkee, has been facing four-hour power cuts on a daily basis. Besides, there are several unscheduled cuts as well.

The industrial town houses as many as 200 small and big units such as Ambuja Cements, Everest and Shreya Pharmaceuticals.

RP Sharma, senior vice-chairman of Bhagwanpur Industrialists Association (BIA), said they were fed up with the apathetic attitude of the authorities in this regard.

“We have apprised the authorities of our problems several times, but nobody pays heed. Many a time, there are over 16-hour cuts in a day. In such situation, one can easily imagine our plight,” said Sharma.

“Apart from the dip in production, the costs have also increased. Many units, especially chemical, which need regular power supply to maintain certain level of temperature in their boilers and machines, are finding it hard to cope up with the situation,” he added.

Industrialists have been demanding a separate feeder for a long time now.

For the purpose, they have already deposited Rs 17 lakh with the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), but still no separate feeder has been provided for the industrial area.

To pressurise the authorities, the industrialists also blocked the National Highway last week.

In addition to this, industrialists complain that the area also lacks basic infrastructure.

“In the name of roads, one can find only ‘kutcha paths’ here, which are not conducive for heavy trucks and trolleys.

Due to the narrow lanes, massive traffic jams are witnessed each day.

The industrial town also lacks adequate drainage system and drinking water,” rued the local industrialists.

“The state government, which is seeking extension of the special package of industrial incentives from the Central government till 2013, seems least bothered when it comes to developing this industrial town,” lamented Munish Kumar, another industrialist in the area.

“If the situation remains the same, many industries would shift their base from here,” said RP Sharma.

Dehradun, July 31
Death anniversary of Shaheed Udham Singh was observed in Khatriyan area of Kashipur in the Kumaon region.

Addressing a programme, Mahanagar Congress Committee president Ashok Saxena asked the youth to emulate the ideals set by Udham Singh.

Another congress leader Jitendra Sarawati said Udham Singh never submitted to British government and was a true Indian to the core. He fought hard for the independence of the country.

He said it was strange that people today have forgotten the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters.

At another programme held at Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Park, Congress Sewa Dal leader Amit Jaiswal offered his tributes to the martyr.

He said the younger generation must understand the value of hard fought independence.

Dehradun, July 31
Despite the ISO certification the Doon Hospital is riddled with shortage of stretchers.

The stretchers are almost absent at most of the wards. In most of the cases patients are physically carried to the emergency ward.

At times movement of patients like this has disastrous consequences especially in accident cases.

During the recent Vikas Nagar bus mishap, when patients were rushed to Doon Hospital the arrangement was fully exposed as stretchers could not be spared, once the patients were brought in to the hospital.

Hospital sources reveal that only one stretcher is available at the trauma Center, three at the emergency ward and one each at wards no 12 and 14.

“The situation becomes worse whenever there is a rush of patients as the stretchers are usually engaged. The patient then cannot be offloaded immediately, especially those in emergency,” said Jagat Ram, a patient.

So acute is the shortage of stretchers in the hospital that the families of the patients who need urgent treatment have been seen taking the services of the hand cart that is used for transporting medicines and may not be appropriate for carrying patients.

Dehradun, July 31
It was fifth consecutive victory for Uttarakhand Police team at the ongoing District Football League. The police team defeated Yankies Club by a margin of 6-0 here today.

This victory will help Uttarakhand Police team share the first spot with Doon Star team in Pool B.

It proved to be a one sided match between Uttarakhand Police and Yankies Club. It proved an uphill task for Yankies team to play against a stronger team. Uttarakhand team scored the first goal in the 7th minute of the match to push their opponent on the back foot.

It was a good finishing touch by Saurav Rawat, who skillfully placed a pass from Deepak in the nets Yankies club to beat their goalkeeper Viajy Rawat on all quarters.

Scoring the first goal in the 7th minute of the match, Uttarakhand Police spirits was high and they constantly mounted pressured the Yankies club defense. Their efforts paid as they scored their second goal in the 15th minute of the match through Deepak. After conceding two goals the Yankies team forward tried to attack but its shots died half way in front of the Uttarakhand’s strong defense. At the end of the first half Uttarakhand Police team was leading by 2-0. In the second half Utttarakhand Police further increased its goal tally to score another four goals.

Veer Singh struck the third goal within the second minute of the half to make its 3-0 for his team. Uttarakhand Police dominance in the match continued as they scored their fourth goal through Preem Rawat, who took a powerful 25 yard shot at the goal to make it 4-0.

Veer Singh struck his second goal in the 55th minute of the match to make it 5-0. In the closing minutes Deepak scored the sixth goal for his side. Yankies team looked out of place throughout the match and it was totally demoralised at the end of the match.

The second match of the day was played between Sundarwala Boys and Rishikesh Teams.

It was a goalless draw between both the teams as none of the teams could manage to score a goal despite getting enough opportunities to score.

Dehradun, July 31
Director Imitiaz Ali’s ‘Love Aaj Kal’ released all over today. The movie attracted a large number of crowd getting a favorable opening in the city.

The director came into limelight with his debut ‘Socha Naa Tha’ and then ‘Jab we met’, for which Kareena Kapoor even won the best actress award.

With Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padokoune in lead roles the story beautifully compares the love story of yesteryears and today. The movie successfully attracts all genre of society with foot tapping numbers tunes composed by Pritam.

“I am big fan of Saif Ali Khan and so I couldn’t afford to miss the movie. In Love Aaj Kal I loved both the characters played by Saif though, it was equally exciting to watch him playing a Sikh chap for the first time,” said Shweta, a fan.

“I simply came to watch the movie, as I love the music of the film. For me ‘Twist’ and ‘Ye Dooriya’ songs remains all time super hit compositions,” said Rahul, student. However, where prior to this movie ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ broke city records with excellent collections, this movie with drama, music and great star cast is also expected to produce same collections in the coming weeks.

“On the first day itself the opening has been outstanding, and we are positive that by next week it will make a city record similar to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

“The main reason why people are thronging to our hall is because the movie contains all the elements of a successful masala movie. Also this is Saif Ali Khan’s debut movie as a producer and audiences love him playing a sikh,” said Verendra Pal Singh, New Empire.