Dehradun, October 22
Congress workers and leaders today rejoiced at the victory of the party in assembly elections in three states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. Workers gathered at the Congress Bhawan and explode crackers and distributed sweets.

Uttarakhand Congress chief Yahspal Arya, in a statement, congratulated party president Sonia Gandhi for the victory in the polls. He said after a resounding victory in the Lok sabha polls, the party has again won the confidence of the people in three states.

Arya further said people had reposed faith in the policies pursued by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and rejected the divisive politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He also exhorted the Congress workers in the state to work wholeheartedly to expose the inefficient BJP government of the state that had allegedly failed on all fronts. He asked the party workers to be prepared to launch an agitation against the state government with the aim of throwing out the BJP from the state in the 2012 assembly polls.

Haridwar, October 22
As pace of Kumbh-related projects and works have gained momentum, so have demands by residents of suburban areas and colonies for their inclusion in the Kumbh mela periphery to get benefits of development being carried out on the 130-km periphery of Haridwar hosting the Maha Kumbh next year.

As the Kumbh budget has been touching an all-time high Rs 700-crore mark, and add to it the funds from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), there is no dearth of funds for developmental works.

Various adjacent colonies that have not been included in the Kumbh area but play a pivotal role in hosting of the Maha Kumbh and other fairs in the city have upped their demand to get these areas included in the Kumbh area.

Already people of Jwalapur, one of the major suburban colonies of the Haridwar, have held protests in favour of their demand to include their area in the mela area. Similar demands are being raised by residents of posh Shivalik Nagar Colony and Brahmapuri.

Despite Shivalik Nagar being a posh area and having district headquarters and an Integrated Industrial Estate developed by SIDCUL, its roads, sewerage and water supply are poorly maintained. This has created resentment among people who feel that the word posh associated with the colony is in the name only.

Taking up the demand of the local people and traders, the city unit of the Congress has chalked out an agitation. It will be holding a demonstration and giving a memorandum to mela officer Anand Vardhan in this regard from tomorrow onwards and will intensify the movement if their demand was not fulfilled.

“Umpteen number of times we have apprised the administration and the state government of the problems being faced by the people of Shivalik Nagar, yet no heed has been paid to it. Though there are 200-odd companies situated next to Shivalik Nagar, it has not been included in the mela area, which is quite surprising,” said OP Chauhan, city Congress chief.

Shivalik Nagar has a population of about 35,000 and still it doesn’t have a primary and high school. During the Maha Kumbh, yearly holy bathes and Kanwar Yatra, traffic is diverted through this area.

Not left behind are the residents of Brahmapuri who feel neglected by the Kumbh administration and the state government. Residents here have also decided to stage a one-day indicative demonstration.

People allege that whether it is electricity, water or sewerage, all are in pathetic condition in the area. Member of the Municipal Committee Leela Devi, in a memorandum, has apprised the mela officer of the non-development of the Brahmapuri ward.

Haridwar, October 22
The closure of the Ganga here seems to be casting its shadow on the festival of Chhath which is observed by north Indians. With no water at Har-Ki-Pauri and the Ganga canal due to the closure currently on for the cleaning and maintenance of Ganga ghats, repairing of under-surface canals and various works related with Maha Kumbh projects.

Demands from various organisations, traders and northern state communities are being made to the mela administration and the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department to release a minimum quantity of water into the Ganga canal so that they can observe the Chhath rituals as per the tradition and custom.

The Bhojpuri Lok Samiti and the Maha Manav Nirmai Mission have urged the mela officer to release the flow of water into the Ganga canal so that water flow is maintained at Har-Ki-Pauri and Chhath is observed by people as per rituals.

Waterless Ganga has caused concern among devotees, Chhath followers who throng the Ganga ghats to perform the rituals and also the thousands who come to Haridwar from nearby states to perform and observe Chhath.

Head of Bhojpuri Lok Samiti Ishwardin Kumar, explaining the significance of water in the festival of Chhath, said they had apprised and requested the mela officer to release at least some water into the Ganga canal so that they could perform the rituals associated with the festival.

Chhath is a holy festival that has a special place among north Indians, especially people from states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Chhattisgarh, and continues for four days. It started today and will culminate on October 25.

The Kumbh Mela Paramarsh Datiri Samiti has also opposed giving extension to the Ganga closure and demanded the release of water keeping in mind the festivals of Chhath, Panch Bhikhi and Kartik Poornima falling in the coming days.

Vice-president of the samiti Purushottam Sharma has said taking a dip and performing Chhath at the Ganga is considered auspicious.

Meanwhile, the administration has assured them of releasing water in the Har-Ki-Pauri and Ganga canal so that Chhath puja can be observed. The water will be released on October 24 evening. But probability is that as due to the cleaning of the Ganga canal and ongoing Kumbh-related projects, the water will not be as clean as it normally is.

Chhath Organising Committee spokesman Dinkar Mishra has said holy dip will be taken at ghats of South Haridwar. He said if the flow of water was resumed, it would not be clean till October 25 and would affect bathing at the ghats of Har-ki-Pauri, Rodi Belwala, Pantdeep, Vishwakarma, Prem Nagar, Singh Dwar, Jatwada bridge, Jwalapur and Kankhal ghats.

Dehradun, October 22
While chairing a review meeting of works carried under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, District Magistrate (DM) D Senthil Pandiyan expressed dissatisfaction at the tardy progress of the scheme in the state for 2006-2007.

He asked the officiating Chief Development Officer RS Pokhriya to issue letters to gram sabha committees and shiksha committees giving reasons for a delay in carrying out construction works within 15 days .

He said in case of a unsatisfactory reply, the contract of the agencies would be terminated and passed on to some other agency.

Calling upon the block education officers to maintain quality in works undertaken for the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, the District Magistrate said an FIR would be registered against the construction agency in case the work undertaken by it was found lacking in quality.

The DM told the BEOs of Chakrata to propagate the SSA programmes at a multi-purpose camp to be held on October 29 at Sajayu in Chakrata block. He evaluated the annual budget for 2009-10 and asked the BEOs to take up repair of school buildings.

Dehradun, October 22
Leopard casualties continue to grow in Uttarakhand. The figure touched the 44 mark this year when the body of a male leopard with injury marks was found in the forest area adjacent to Sherpur village in Kotabag development block in Ramnagar, Kumaon, yesterday.

Forest officials came across the body during routine patrols in compartment one of Deychooree range falling under Ramnagar forest division.

Veterinary doctor DC Joshi and forest official Dhirajdhar Bachwan rushed to the site. After the initial post-mortem examination, the viscera was been sent to the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for further investigation.

Prima facie, the officials are ruling out any foul play and do not attribute the injuries to bullet marks. The leopard had a length of 2.15 m and was five years old.

As many as 44 leopards have been killed in Uttarkhand this year with some of them being shot dead after they turned man-eaters.

As per wildlife records from official and voluntary sources, 12 leopards were killed after being declared man-eaters while 14 others were poached or died under mysterious circumstances while the police and forest officials found as many as 12 leopard hides in various raids.

Wildlife experts feel that Uttarakhand government must come up with preventive measures before the state loses all its wild cats. Expressing concern over the spurt in the incidents of leopard deaths, Rajendra Aggarwal, head of Wildlife Protection Society of India, said the rising number 
of leopard deaths in the state was a matter of immediate concern.

Dehradun, October 22
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has asked the State Bank of India (SBI) to work for the development of the country rather than merely acting as professional bankers.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a function to inaugurate the 333rd branch of State Bank of India at Nehru Colony here today.

He exhorted the officers of the SBI that benefits of banking services should be extended to the remotest villages, so that its activities could be linked with employment and migration of youth could be checked.

Underlining the glorious history of the SBI, he called for fulfilling social responsibilities like making Uttarakhand clean and green.

Highlighting the contribution of Uttarakhand in maintaining internal and external security of the country, Chief Minister Nishank said that at least one son of each family from Uttarakhand had been devotedly serving the nation by joining military and para-military forces.

He said that Uttarakhand shares 250-km-long border with two countries and the state is sensitive from the security point of view.

Keeping this in mind, he said that migration of youth from Uttarakhand should be viewed as a national problem. Checking migration from villages of Uttarakhand would help strengthen national security, he added.

Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli drew the attention of the Chief Minister at the snail pace of development of Nehru Colony owing to the supervision of some parts of Nehru Colony by Uttar Pradesh Awas Vikas Parishad.

He demanded that it should be brought under the supervision of Uttarakhand government. Deputy General Manager, SBI, Mahip Kumar and Chief Manager, SBI, were also present at inauguration.

Dehradun, October 22
With ever-increasing gastrointestinal cases in the state, the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chapter of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology has decided to hold a conference on “Gastrointestinal Emergencies: From Bench to Bedside” to upgrade the knowledge of doctors.

The 20th annual conference of the society will be held from October 23 to 25 at Hotel Sylverton Park Plaza in Mussoorie.

Dr CP Arya, Acting Director-General, Medical Health and Family Welfare, will inaugurate the conference. While the function will be presided over by Prof Ramesh Roop Rai, former president of the society.

Stating this at a press conference today, Dr PK Agarwal, organising secretary-cum-treasurer of the society, said a total of 150 delegates from Uttarakhand and other parts of the country would be participating in the conference. “The speakers of national and international repute will be speaking on various diseases related to digestive system. The focus will be on the emergencies, their quick diagnosis and prompt management,” said Dr Agarwal.

Among prominent speakers who will be addressing the delegates are Prof VK Dikshit of Benaras Hindu University, Dr Prema Ashish from New Delhi, Dr Manisha Dwivedi of Allahabad Medical College.