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Chinks in state Cong
Quarrying on Ganga Riverbed |
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Malsi Deer Park animals to be shifted
Govt seeks Japan aid for Almora Medical College
LPG: Congress holds protest at supply office
Symbiosis’ Seminar
UKD condemns drive against encroachments
Sagon wood worth Rs 1.75 lakh seized
BHEL bags Rs 2 billion contract in Oman
Home Guards seek regular jobs
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Chinks in state Cong
Dehradun, October 29 The case pertains to alleged threats to life given by Behad to Shukla, a Congress leader, during the executive committee meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) held on October 21 at Rudrapur. Himanshu Shukla, owing allegiance to Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat and other youth Congress workers, had tried to storm the meeting demanding that cases registered against District Youth Congress chief in the Kaladhungi case be withdrawn. Behad had a verbal argument with Youth Congress workers who started a dharna outside the venue of the PCC meeting and were led by local MP KC Singh Baba, who did not bother to attend the PCC meeting. But, the entire events point towards the Congress leaders preparing for the next assembly elections in their own unique way. There are efforts by the group led by Harish Rawat to oust state Congress chief Yashpal Arya, who owes his political allegiance to veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister ND Tiwari. It was Tiwari who succeeded in removing his old rival Harish Rawat as state Congress chief after the party was defeated in the 2007 assembly elections. But, following the departure of Tiwari as Governor of Andhra Pradesh and rehabilitation of Harish Rawat in the union council of ministers after winning the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Haridwar, the Harish Rawat group has emerged stronger in the state Congress politics. Most of the Congress legislators belong to the Harish Rawat camp and some splinter elements have also joined hands with him to oust Arya. Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat and a former aide of Tiwari, Indira Hariydesh, have also jumped on to the bandwagon of Harish Rawat. None of the Congress legislators, except a few, went to attend the PCC meeting called by Arya to undermine his position. Every attempt was made to disrupt the PCC meeting which was held in the assembly segment of Behad, who has some sympathy for Arya at Rudrapur. With a police case registered by the Congress leaders against Behad, an effort is being made to put pressure on him. |
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Quarrying on Ganga Riverbed
Dehradun, October 29 Both Dr Chopra and Rajender Singh visited the mined area at Kankhal and took stock of the environmental degradation due to mining activities. Later, they also visited the jail where Swami Dayanand has been lodged. Dr Chopra said they had given a prior intimation to the Haridwar District Magistrate as well as the SSP about their proposed visit to meet Swami Dayanand in the jail and that was perhaps the reason for the denial of necessary permission to them to meet Swami Dayanand. “On the one hand, the government talks about mobilising public support to save rivers while on the other it punishes those who initiate steps for their protection,” said Rajendra Singh. He added that the same government, which had accorded reverential status of Goddess to the Ganga, was now bent upon destroying it by allowing mining on its riverbed and not taking action against polluting units. |
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Malsi Deer Park animals to be shifted
Dehradun, October 29 This comes on a directive of the Central Zoo Authority of India, which has asked Dehradun’s forest officials to shift all animals from the park, barring deer. However, the major challenge before the Malsi authorities continues to be the shifting of two leopards. Both male leopard Raja and female leopard Rani could be shifted to a high-altitude zoo in the state in view of the Central Zoo Authority’s directives. There have been efforts for a long time to convert Malsi Deer Park into a mini-zoo. The total area of the park had also been extended from the present 25 hectares to 35 hectares, taking into account its new land requirement. The proposed mini-zoo is to come up on the National Zoo Board’s guidelines. The mini-zoo will be developed on the lines of ones having good infrastructure. Further, more wildlife will be introduced in the zoo and necessary arrangements made at the site. It will also be ensured that the wild animal brought at the zoo get natural surroundings. The planners have also taken in account a two-year time span to further take the nascent mini-zoo into a full-fledged zoo. “We plan to make the Malsi mini-zoo as one of its kinds in the region,” said Gangte. “We were initially planning to relocate both male leopard Raja and female Leopard Rani to the
Almora Zoo as per the directives of the Central Zoo Authority,” said Gangte, DFO Dehradun. Malsi is quite popular with both residents of Doon and tourists. The Doonites too go to the park on weekends. |
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Govt seeks Japan aid for Almora Medical College
Dehradun, October 29 The modalities regarding the financial assistance have to be worked out in the coming months. The Uttarakhand government is seeking Rs 175 crore for the college. After which the government can formally apply with the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 2010. The proposal for the medical college was approved by the then Congress government, but the matter could not move beyond the files, after the BJP government showed disinterest under former Chief Minister Lieut-Gen BC Khanduri (retd). But, the proposal gained momentum on the allocation of 20 acres adjacent the Development Office where the main building and academic premises of the college will be housed. Practical training will be held at the base hospital, which will be expanded to 300 beds in the coming days. |
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LPG: Congress holds protest at supply office
Dehradun, October 29 Led by Vinod Chauhan, members of the party gathered at the office alleging irregularities in the department’s working. The protesters asserted that while there was an acute scarcity of LPG at gas agencies across the district for common consumers, there was no dearth of LPG cylinders for hotels and restaurants. “LPG cylinders are being sold on black market,” said Chauhan. He said the agencies were intentionally causing a scarcity of cylinders in order to facilitate black marketing of cylinders. The Congress workers threatened to intensify the agitation if the scarcity of LPG cylinders was not dealt with effectively within next 10 days. “We may also go for a drastic action like locking the District Supply Office,” Chauhan said. Pramod Sharma, Tajendra Rawat, Suresh Verma and Narendra Nautiyal were prominent leaders among the protesters. |
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Symbiosis’ Seminar
Dehradun, October 29 The media seminar was jointly organised by the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communications, Symbiosis International University and the Quantum Global campus, Roorkee. Catering to the needs of students and enlightening about the nuisances of media industry there were eminent speakers from various backgrounds. The seminar was inaugurated by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, who while addressing the gathering said, “The state has been blessed with greenery and beautiful locations in abundance, but due to the harmful effect of global warming its necessary that people get together and spread awareness regarding such important issues”. Apart from speech discussing how to protect the environment, the Chief Minister also congratulated the head organisers of seminar for showcasing such an enlightening seminar. “Media plays an imperative role in bringing the gap between people and the government. Movements like the famous Chipko Aandolan by environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna also gained momentum through the media encouragement,” said the Chief Minister. The first phase witnessed informative speeches on “Green Battle” by Bahuguna, scientist and Prof DS Rawat and Director of Quantum Global Campus HC Handa. “Due to the ongoing pollution, today the Taj Mahal is losing its sheen and turning yellow from the flawless white,” said Handa while given a presentation on the Taj Mahal. After the first half of enthusiasm and knowledge-sharing, the second phase covered discussion on “Building Brand Uttarakhand”. Well-known photography artist Threesh Kapoor, national programming head of Radio Mirchi Tapas Sen and head of corporate communication, ONGC, Anil Rajan Vijan were the main speakers for the second session. “I have travelled across the globe, but still I am staying in Uttarakhand as it is endowed with so much natural beauty. The media is growing every day and through its medium it’s very much possible that promotion of this nascent state can be done at a bigger platform,” said Kapoor. The seminar concluded with a question-answer session. “We are very happy with the response in Dehradun and are even covering some foreign locations in the near future,” said Subhas Gatne, faculty member, Audio Visual Production at Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communications. |
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Skaters take out rally on National Disaster Day
Dehradun, October 29 About 285 students of various age groups participated in the rally with hand-made slogans that were made on topics like global warming, save environment and save trees. On the conclusion of the rally, 20 students were given prizes for the best slogan-writing. Earlier in the day, president of the Disaster Advisory Committee Tirath Singh Rawat, along with Director of Asian School Tarun Jot Singh and former Sports Minister Narayan Singh Rana, flagged off
the rally. On the occasion, national skating referee Gulab Singh Chaudhari said a state-level skating marathon would be organised from Dehradun to Haridwar in February. The marathon would witness players from throughout the state. |
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UKD condemns drive against encroachments
Dehradun, October 29 According to members of the dal, the drive caused an immense problem to poor residents of the area. “Without prior information, personnel of the Municipal Corporation barged into the
locality and caused financial loss to the residents as also created fear in their minds,” said one of the members present at the venue. The UKD members raised anti-MC slogans and presented a memorandum to the Chief Executive Officer of the MC. Along with their demand for an urgent inquiry into the matter, the members have also asked the corporation authorities to give financial aid to the residents injured during the drive. Besides, they have sought a strict action against those who adopted a harsh attitude towards the poor residents. |
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Sagon wood worth Rs 1.75 lakh seized
Dehradun, October 29 Acting on a tip-off, a forest officials’ team, led by Sub Divisional Officer RN Pande, along with protest officials Pitambar Dhyani, Nandram Singh, Shailendra Singh and Inder Lal, raided the house of Mahendra Singh of Kachnalgaxi village in the Kashipur region. As many as 53 pieces of wood were recovered from the kitchen garden of the house. However, before the forest officials could act, Mahendra and his family members made an escape leaving behind the pieces of wood. With each piece of sagon wood, around 7-ft-long and 2-to-4 ft in circumference, the market value is estimated to be around Rs 1.75 lakh. The forest officials spent around 1 hour at the Mahendra’s house and conducted thorough searches. According to forest officials, a case has been registered under the Forest Conservation Act and further investigation is in progress to nab the culprit. Precious sagon wood has often been illegally felled by timber smugglers as it fetches a high price. Incidents of illegal felling of sagon wood have been reported earlier also from the Rajaji Park area on several occasions. |
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BHEL bags Rs 2 billion contract in Oman
Haridwar, October 29 The company has bagged contracts worth billions in the past six months and now has another feather in its cap after bagging a whopping Rs 2,050 million contract for setting up a gas turbine generating unit of 126 MW in Oman. The multi-million order envisages supply, supervision of erection and commissioning of a state-of-the-art 126 MW gas turbine generating unit for a power project being set up by the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) at Qarn Alam, near Muscat. Earlier, BHEL had secured and executed 14 major contracts in the past 14 years in Oman. BHEL spokesman said that the Sultanate of Oman is BHEL’s key export client. “Now, BHEL has the unique distinction of having 16 gas turbine sets installed in Oman,” he said. |
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Home Guards seek regular jobs
Dehradun, October 29 According to the memorandum, almost 6,400 Home Guards jawans are working in the state, but unlike other employees of the state, they are not regular. They said Uttarakhand should also implement Himachal Pradesh’s pattern for Home Guards. They have demanded Rs 300 per day as
wages. They said Home Guards jawans were being exploited. |
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Dr Ravi Chopra, Director of Peoples Science Institute (PSI), a local voluntary body, and Rajendra Singh of Tarun Bharat Sangh, a Magsaysay awardee, today visited Kankhal in Haridwar in the wake of a raging controversy over mining at the Ganga riverbed and incarceration of protesters, including Swami Dayanand of Matri Sadan, by the state government.
