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Cong prepares to pay BJP in same coin
Cabinet Meeting
Rumour of Rahul’s arrival keeps Cong workers on toes
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NRI held for misbehaving with traffic cops
Registrar kanungos threaten to go on strike
State gets protection alerts for 15 animal species
Nainital MP seeks CBI probe into Kaladungi episode
ONGC registers fifth project with UNFCCC
Shift Rahi to Udham Singh Nagar, says Doon SSP
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Cong prepares to pay BJP in same coin
Dehradun, October 20 According to party sources, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee will deliberate on launching a statewide agitation against the BJP government misrule in the past two and a half years. Senior party leaders are of the opinion that the BJP, which came to power in the 2007 assembly elections raising the issue of misrule of the previous Congress government, has itself failed miserably in the past two and half years. The Congress will be highlighting the infighting within the BJP that led to the ouster of former Chief Minister Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd) and the hankering of the BJP leader and legislators after the offices of profit. The party also wants to highlight the growing lawlessness that was reflected in the Kaldhungi incident and several other incidents of violence and crime, particularly in the terai area
of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts. The recent distribution of offices of parliamentary secretaries to party legislators and those of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of various boards and corporations to legislators and senior BJP leaders by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has also come as a potent weapon in the hands of Congressmen. It was the issue of a large-scale distribution of such offices by former Chief Minister ND Tiwari that the BJP exploited in the last assembly elections to come to power. The Congress will like to pay them back in the same coin. The issue of a vigorous membership drive to prepare for the next assembly elections will also be discussed at the executive committee meeting. Four of the total five MP from the state namely Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat, Vijay Bahuguna, Pardeep Tamta and KC Singh Baba are also expected to participate in the meeting, according to Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal
Arya. |
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Cabinet Meeting
Dehradun, October 20 The decision was endorsed today at a
cabinet meeting but another decision regarding hike in MLA salaries could not materialise due to lack of unanimity. In addition, the Office of Profit Act will be introduced in the forthcoming session of the assembly. The government has kept three posts out of the ambit of
office of profit. The cabinet also decided to extend Sixth Pay Commission recommendations to teaching and non-teaching staff of the GB Pant University. Stating this today at a briefing, Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pandey said that the UGC would pay 80 per cent, while the state would contribute 20 per cent towards the salaries of the staff. The government also decided to increase the upper ceiling for the salaries being given to the work-charge employees working in the Irrigation Department and PWD. At total of 4,000 employees will benefit from the decision. The government also brought aromatic plants and herbs under the ambit of 4 per cent VAT. “This has been done at the insistence of the central government as most other states are also charging VAT. It will help in the systematic utilisation of the state’s herbal bounty,” Pandey said. It was also decided to extend 4 per cent VAT on the sale of products made out of agricultural waste like plywood and boards. The cabinet has also endorsed the expansion of Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology by creating extra posts in the department (10 to 21 at the state level, and 16 at the regional level and four posts at the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights). In another decision, the government has also decided to make the payment of long-term liabilities that were incurred to the tune of Rs 5.72 crore while buying energy that was carried forward after
Uttarakhand was created by issuing bonds to the National Power Corporation and other central power agencies. |
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Rumour of Rahul’s arrival keeps Cong workers on toes
Dehradun, October 20 A large number of Congress leaders and workers went into the Shatbadi Express at the Haridwar railway station. As soon as the train chugged into the station, Congress workers went from compartment to compartment to look for their leader, but without success. Interestingly, Rahul reportedly got down at an unscheduled halt between Laksar and Roorkee. From there, he reportedly went towards Uttarkashi on a private visit by road. But, undeterred Congress workers thronged Dehradun railway station. Some of the workers even went to the Doiwala station on hearing that Rahul Gandhi would alight there to go to the Jolly Grant airport. Similarly, workers in large numbers thronged the house of Satish Sharma, MP, at Mussoorie to have a glimpse of their leader. Throughout the day, along with Congress workers and leaders, mediapersons were also busy locating Rahul. Till late in the evening, Rahul remained elusive from public glare. |
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15-day closure of Doon station to hit trade
Dehradun, October 20 Reservation counters have already started refusing reservations for all trains for the aforesaid period. The bookings data base has already been locked at New Delhi railway station. Most of the trains that come to Dehradun will now only be coming up to Haridwar, Saharanpur and Moradabad. As many as 19 to-and-fro trains are operated from Dehradun daily with around 6,000 passengers boarding these at Dehradun station and an equal number alighting at the station. The closure of the station for a period of 15 days is bound to cause numerous inconveniences to people. A big quantity of consumer material comes to Dehradun through trains and the closure will hit the trade in the city. Reservation officer at Dehradun railway station Balwant Singh said they had stopped accepting reservations for the said period and were informing the consumers of the development accordingly. There has also been a growing concern over turning Derhadun-Haridwar railway track from single to double line, apart from converting Dehradun railway station into a model station. But, still it looks to be a far cry. Moreover, this capital city railway station is still connected with its nearest station of Haridwar by a single track, which is a source of big hindrance in a speedy movement of trains. Despite being one of most important railway stations of the state, it hardly has infrastructure matching that at a capital railway station. The state is very poorly connected to both west and south. While there is no proper train to Mumbai and other western parts of the country, the train to the South is more or less symbolic. This is despite the fact that a big chunk of population from other parts of the country works in large number of central institutions at Dehradun, who greatly depend on rails for their movement. Railways are almost non-existent for those up in hills. Any efforts there have been limited to opening up of railway reservation counters. The long-standing demand for laying of a railway track from Bageshwar to Tanakpur in Kumaon, too, found a few takers in the Railway Ministry. Now, there have been efforts to explore the possibility of laying railway tracks from Rishikesh to Karanprayag in Garhwal hills. However, even after an initial survey, the things are yet to see the light of the day. |
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Women’s assn holds protest march, submits memo
Dehradun, October 20 Later, after staging a demonstration, a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister and Uttarakhand Chief Minister was handed over to the authorities. Indu Naudiyal, regional general secretary of the association, claimed that there was an incessant rise in the prices of the essential food items, the state was facing a shortage of grains and women no more felt safe here as cases of violence against them were also on the rise. She said only five lakh people had been officially placed below poverty line and this was utter injustice with the state, which had one of the most difficult geographic regions of the country. Naudiyal said the prices were even more in the hill districts due to the transportation costs and poor people, in the absence of any rationing of essential foodgrains, were suffering from malnutrition. To top it all, the BJP government had decided to increase the charges at the health centres. She further stated that cases of violence against women were on the rise in Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar districts on the one hand and the number of female children was also on the decline in the state. In the memorandum, the association demanded provision of rations of 14 essential items for rural as well urban poor, a stoppage on black marketing of kerosene and LPG, free medical services, strict implementation of the laws related to violence against women, building of working women hostel in each
district and simplification of the procedures to get caste certificates. |
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NRI held for misbehaving with traffic cops
Dehradun, October 20 The traffic police officers near Astelly Hall had checked Amardeep for parking his car at the no-parking area. This led to an argument and later to a scuffle. Amardeep, a lawyer in England, had come to Dehradun on Diwali. He had gone to Hall for some work, where he parked his car at a wrong place. The traffic police officers had challaned him for wrong parking, at which he got furious and tore the challan booklet. The matter got worse with Amardeep repeatedly claiming to be an England lawyer. The police then arrested Amardeep for misbehaving with the traffic police officers and sent him to jail. Girl’s body found floating
in Joshiyara barrage
A body was found floating in the Joshiyara barrage in Uttarakashi district. It was identified to be that of a girl, who had committed suicide when accused of theft. The victim 16-year-old Vandana
was studying at Government Inter College, Joshiyara. A few days ago, one of her schoolmates had accused her of stealing her mobile phone. On repeated harassment on the part of the school authorities, Vandana had jumped into the Joshiyara barrage on October 3. The police had since then been searching for her body and even taken the assistance from divers, but to no avail. Motorcycle stolen
from church
A motorcycle was stolen from St Franchises Church of Vikasnagar here today. This is the second incident of theft
at a church in Dehradun, the previous one being at the Methodist Church of the city. As per information, AK Singh, who resides at St Franchises Church, had filed a case claiming that his motorcycle was stolen from the church premises. The police has started a search. |
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Registrar kanungos threaten to go on strike
Pauri Garhwal, October 20 The registrar kanungos will be observing boycott from all computer works on October 26 and then will wait till October 31 for government action and stage a dharna on November 1. If still the demands are not met, they will go on indefinite strike from November 2 onwards. In a memorandum given to the District Magistrate, the Registrar Kanungo Union has demanded instant rectification of their demands otherwise they will have to take the agitation route. Suresh Dabral, chief of the union, expressed hope that their demands will be considered as they have till date not taken the agitation route. For the past few years with the computerisation of the land records kanungos have been mostly affected with this work. As till date there have not been separate appointment of computer operators for this purpose in the department, which has led to work pressure among the kanungos. Out of nine tehsils, there is only one kanungo for six tehsils. With changing times and increase in crime, civil and revenue works, patwari and kanungos are facing workload and are demanding either full amenities or lessening of work, especially those related to criminal matters. |
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State gets protection alerts for 15 animal species
Dehradun, October 20 Uttarakhand stands second to Kerala in the entire country where there are maximum number of threatened species of both flora and fauna. The costal state of Kerala has 26 plant species and 13 animal species threatened with extinction. The notification, issued by the ministry, has asked the Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board to conduct sensitisation programmes and provide educational material on notified species to Forest Department personnel, biodiversity management committees and eco-tourism programmes. |
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Nainital MP seeks CBI probe into Kaladungi episode
Dehradun, October 20 Participating in the relay hunger strike at New Tehsil, Ramnagar, in Nainital district held in support of Youth Congress leader Sanjay Negi, an accused in the Kaladungi incident, Baba said Congress workers were seeking withdrawal of cases linked to
the Kaladungi incident from Negi. “Mere CBCID probe will not do; we demand a CBI probe into the matter,” Baba pointed out. He said the Congress would continue to protest till the false cases against the Congress leader
were withdrawn. The Congress leader also participated in the protest rally that
criss-crossed Ramnagar before culminating their protest at Old Tehsil. The Congress workers also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the Sub Divisional Magistrate. Kaladungi had witnessed violence after the brutal murder of the BJP
leader in a police station. The subsequent violence led to lynching of a policeman. |
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ONGC registers fifth project with UNFCCC
Dehradun, October 20 The project, Energy Efficiency of Amine Circulation Pumps at Hazira, involves enhancing energy efficiency achieved in the amine circulation pumps of Hazira Plant. The project will fetch an estimated Certified Emission Reduction (CER) of 4,043 per year for a period of 10 years. With this, a total annual CER of about 1.24 lakh is achieved by the ONGC. It is also pertinent to mention that the ONGC has already submitted one more CDM project to the UNFCCC with the request for registration. RS Sharma, Chief Managaing Director, ONGC, said, “The ONGC under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural is the only central PSU to have five registered CDM projects against its name”. |
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Shift Rahi to Udham Singh Nagar, says Doon SSP
Dehradun, October 20 The SSP wrote that to take Rahi to Udham Singh Nagar for court hearing is a big draw on the security forces as a large security force has to escort him every time. “Besides being a security risk, the expenses on his transportation are avoidable. He can be shifted to a jail in Udham Singh Nagar,” he added. |
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