Dehradun, September 29
In protest against the suspension of Chief Engineer SA Asghar Ali, employees of the Minor Irrigation Department today went on a wild cat strike. The Chief Engineer was suspended by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank last evening following a tussle between Vinod Phonia, Secretary, Minor Irrigation, and Irrigation Minister Matbar Singh Kandari.

Phonia, who was probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 110 employees in the department three years ago, wanted some document from Chief Engineer which was resented by the minister as well as the Chief Engineer. On Saturday night, when Phonia went to the office of the Chief Engineer to get the relevant files, employees ran away locking the office. Phonia got the office sealed with the help of the police, leading to a ruckus.

An embarrassed Nishank, shifted the feuding officials and suspended the Chief Engineer for indiscipline.

As the news of the suspension of the Chief Engineer reached the office of the department, the employees went on a strike.

VK Ahuja, president of the Minor Irrigation Ministerial Employees Union, in a statement issued here said the employees would remain on strike till the Chief Engineer was reinstated by the state government.

Napchilayal to take charge of Principal Secy (Minor Irrigation)

The Uttarakhand government today decided to give the charge of Principal Secretary (Minor Irrigation) to Additional Chief Secretary NS Napchilayal while Amrendra Sinha will be the Principal Secretary, Irrigation.

The changes were made following the removal of Vinod Phonia as Secretary, Minor Irrigation, and Principal Secretary Vinita Kumar. Both these officers were removed following a running feud between Vinod Phonia and Irrigation Minister Matbar Singh Kandari on the issue of a probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 110 posts in the department three years ago.

The matter came to the fore following the sealing of the office of the Chief Engineer, Minor Irrigation, by Vinod Phonia, much to the annoyance of the minister concerned. While, the minister and the Principal Secretary sided with the Chief Engineer, Vinod Phonia was for action against the Chief Engineer.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, taking a serious note of the happenings, decided to effect the changes in the department and also suspended Chief Engineer SA Asghar Ali. Rakesh Kumar, Secretary, Education, will be the inquiry officer in the suspension case. 

Roorkee, September 29
Now, drought conditions can be dealt with in a better way in the country. To cope effectively with drought, dons of the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) have prepared a methodology which will warn in advance about the natural calamity in any area.

With this developed warning system, vulnerability of any particular area to drought can be assessed in advance, thus various proposed methods can be brought in to mitigate the hazard, said RP Pandey, principal investigator of the project.

Pandey, who is a scientist E1 in the NIH here, said the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, had also been working separately on the project, which was started in July 2006.

“The Ministry of Water Resource sponsored this project with the vision to develop methods to cope with drought in one or other part of the country,” said Pandey, who 
claimed to have finished the project successfully.

He said the assessment of vulnerability to drought in space and time was one of the key issues in the formulation and planning of reactive to proactive strategies for coping with drought through the early warning systems, preparedness plans and policies aimed at vulnerability reduction and mitigation.

“For the study purposes five sub basins, namely Sonar (Damoh/Sagar districts in MP), Don (Bijapur in Karnataka and Sangli in Maharashtra), Lanth (Bolangir in Orrisa), Manar (Nanded and Latur districts in Maharashtra) and Pedda (Mehaboobnagar in AP) were selected.

“These sites represent different climatic zones, physio-graphical heterogeneity, cropping systems and socio-economic conditions,” said Pandey.

While conducting investigations and field surveys during the kharif and rabi seasons, the study team also procured the relevant data, information, maps etc for scientific analysis.

“Long-term rainfall records (monthly and yearly) for the past 100 years were analysed.

“Apart from that, observations and field data were carried out for systematic monitoring of onset and progression of drought conditions.

“After analysing all data, the results of hydro-meteorological data analysis and various GIS layers on morphological components have been integrated to device drought vulnerability scenarios in space and time,” said Pandey.

He said during the project period drought conditions prevailed in 2006-07 and 2007-08 in Damoh and Mahboobnagar districts, while in other areas different monsoon conditions had been prevailed that time.

“Farmers were also interviewed to assess their views on planning and strategies to face such circumstances in the study area,” he said.

“After analysing long-term hydro-meteorological data, standard precipitation index (SPI), effective drought index (EDI), decile index and per cent deviation from normal were applied for depicting onset of droughts, their duration and degree of severity,” said Pandey.

“The method presented in this study can be a step forward in developing techniques for drought vulnerability assessments and in reducing its impacts in different regions.

“Identifying regional vulnerabilities can lead to plan effective response to cope with drought,” said Pandey.

Haridwar, September 29
On the completion of 15 years of the Rampur Tiraha incident, which fuelled the separate statehood movement on October 2, 1994, the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Samiti (USS), apart from remembering those people who laid down their lives and suffered atrocities at the hands of the police, will observe the day to raise the demand for making Gairsain the capital of the state.

The USS is one of the few organisations which played a pivotal role in the Uttarakhand movement, which had intensified after the Rampur Tiraha incident when the Muzaffarnagar police stopped thousands of New Delhi-bound Uttarakhand agitators and after confrontation opened fired on them. Six activists were killed and women agitators were allegedly raped and molested.

The samiti has urged people to observe a bandh to pay homage to the martyrs and remember the pain and tribulation people had to face in the course of the Uttarakhand movement. Chief of the samiti JP Pandey said people, traders, companies, schools, colleges and political and social organisations should unitedly join hands and observe a closure of their respective works on October 2 and also boost the Gairsain movement.

“Apart from remembering the martyrs, we will be paying real tribute by making Gairsain the permanent capital as was envisioned by the martyrs and people of this hill state,” said Pandey.

During the Uttarakhand agitation, there had been a consensus among people that the capital should be in the hilly region and the name of Gairsain was put forward due to its proximity to both Garhwal and Kumaon, the two divisions of Uttarakhand. Even late Indramani Badoni, an eminent statehood fighter, had laid a foundation stone which depicts Chandra Nagar in Gairsain to be the capital of a separate Uttarakhand.

The Uttarakhand Kranti Manch has also lent its support to the USS’s initiative.

It was this USS only on whose petition the Allahabad High Court had ordered a Central Bureau Investigation into the Rampur Tiraha incident in 1995 and the CBI had filed cases against police personnel under various sections, including 376 (rape), 392 (robbery), 354, 509 and 120 (B) of the IPC, which itself speaks of the heinous act done on the agitators.

This incident proved to be a major turnaround in the agitation for a separate statehood and eventually in 2000 a separate state of Uttaranchal was carved out from Uttar Pradesh state.

Dehradun, September 29
The right hand does not know what the left is doing in the higher Education Department of the state, as its authorities recently ordered the transfer of two lecturers against non-existent posts. Both are running from pillar to post to get the orders cancelled.

As per the September 4 order signed by Secretary, Higher Education, Anjali Prasad, who has since gone on deputation to the union government, Dr Pushpanjli, lecturer in economics, has been transferred from Government Degree College, Agustmuni, to Government Degree College, Narenderanagar. She has already been relieved from her previous posting. She was surprised to know that no sanctioned posts existed there.

In another instance, Dr Govind Ram Semwal, lecturer in English at Government PG College, Gopeshwar, has been transferred to Government Degree College, Doiwala. But, this has been done despite the fact that a lecturer is already working against the only sanctioned post there. Interestingly, Semwal never sought transfer. As per a customary annual arrangement, personnel of teaching and non-teaching staff are supposed to give their consent in the transfer form. Semwal had mentioned negatively in the relevant column.

Though, both lecturers refused to comment, according to sources, the development is particularly harassing for Dr Pushpanjli as she stands to lose her salary till a revised order is issued. She has been relieved from her previous posting. Besides giving representation, she has also met the authorities concerned in this regard. But, Dr Semwal has not been relieved so far because he had submitted a representation for quashing the order. He does not have the salary problem but he is facing a harassment in equal measure. 

Dehradun, September 29
The proposal to increase the exemption limit of value of property to be registered by women in the state has not been cleared by the office of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, even about two months after receiving it formally.

In his budget speech in July, Nishank had announced that the exemption limit of value of property if registered by women, who comprise half of the total population of the state, would be increased from existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

The announcement was part of much-publicised gender budget presented by the ruling BJP-led government.

The move is also perceived to serve the larger purpose of benefiting lower middle and salaried classes in terms of owning commercial and residential property.

Sources said the CM’s office received the proposal on August 7. For reasons best known to the officials concerned, the proposal got stuck there. Even as it was referred back to the Personal Secretary to CM on September 24, there is no further progress on it. As such, no government order could be issued in this regard so far.

During the Congress regime, women were given exemption of 25 per cent stamp duty payable on value of property up to Rs 10 lakh at the time its registration. Nishank had announced to increase it even as it was estimated to increase loss of revenue to the government by about Rs 8 crore.

The government is understood to have taken the step because the value of property has increased over the past three years. 

Dehradun, September 29
Soon, the programmes being run under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Uttarakhand will be scrutinised by an agency appointed by the central government.

An annual survey will provide feedback on the success of such schemes under way in the state.

The state Health Department has been maintaining that owing to improved infrastructure in the state, institutional deliveries have increased considerably for the past few years. In turn, it is expected to impact the maternal mortality rate.

According to the figures provided by the state government in 2005-06, 20,000 deliveries took place at government health institutions, in 2006-07 36,000, in 2007-08 60,000 and in 2008-09 as high as 74,000 delivery cases were reported in health institutions of the state.

“As of now, only 50 per cent deliveries are taking place in government hospitals, which is a little better than our previous record. We need to achieve a target of above 60 per cent,” said Dr PL Joshi, DG (Health).

The survey to be conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would then evaluate these claims.

The survey would be launched in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Assam.

“Field work for the survey will be undertaken by private agencies and supervised by officers of the office of the Registrar-General of India,” said Dr AP Mamgai, Additional Director, NRHM.

The NRHM programme is under way in Uttarakhand to provide support in the upgrade of hospital infrastructure and to make available quality treatment to every villager.

Dehradun, September 29
A Prem Nagar-based family of the 13-year-old girl, who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances three days ago, is running from pillar to post.

The family of Shabana alleged that the police had failed to register their complaint even after they had told them that a woman, who is one of their neighbours, is behind the alleged abduction.

The family alleged that the woman had beaten the girl before she went missing. The girl had come back home crying to her mother, but the woman again took Shabana to her house.

Dehradun, September 29
The candidates selected during 7th All-India Photo and Art Exhibition 2008-09 were given away prizes at a function organised by Rajya Lalit Kala Akademi, Lucknow, at UGB Art Gallery, Uttaranchal Gramin Bank, here today.

The artists whose photos were displayed during the exhibition included Devtosh Sen (Delhi), Vinay N Prelkar (Mumbai), M Khaliq Khan (Bareli), Girish J Kinger (Indore) and SP Mukherji (Kolkata).

The art pieces of these artists have been displayed in various places in India and abroad and they have won accolades at national and international levels.

Earlier, the exhibition was inaugurated by Umakant Panwar, an IAS, who appreciated the efforts of the artists.

The exhibition would remain open for next 15 days from 10 am to 5 pm for general public.

There would be no entry free. 

Dehradun, September 29
Dehradun advanced into the second round in the senior category at the National Kho-Kho Championship here today.

Results: In senior boys, Dehradun defeated Pitthoragarh 10-2.

In senior girls, Uttarkashi beat Pauri 1-0.

In junior boys, Nainital beat Udham Singh Nagar by an innings and one point. Dehradun beat Udham Singh Nagar by an innings and eight points.

In junior girls, Dehradun beat Pitthoragarh 12-0. Haridwar beat Almora 3-2.

In sub-junior boys, Dehradun beat Udham Singh Nagar by an innings and eight points. Pitthoragarh beat Tehri by an innings and eight points.

In sub-junior girls, Pauri beat Nainital 7-0.