Haridwar, November 4
The duel between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Haridwar units is getting louder with each passing day. With Congress targeting the BJP-led state government, particularly the Maha Kumbh works and preparations on heed from Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the BJP too has started targeting the central government over the Kumbh and Member of Parliament Harish Rawat.

After a verbal duel between Rawat and legislator Madan Kaushik over central and state government’s policies, party workers too have taken to the streets against each other. Such is the scenario that both are trying to run down each other in terms of protests, crowd participation and effigy burning.

“We are trying to bring the real face of the Congress to the public and its central government that is discriminating with Uttarakhand only because it is a BJP ruling state,” said Manoj Garg, district BJP head.

He further added that Haridwar, despite being host to five crore people in the four months of Maha Kumbh, was neither being given a separate Kumbh budget, nor food, LPG and other essential commodities.

Today again both Congress and BJP staged separate protests in the city lashing out at each other.

For consecutive past 10 days, no day has passed when there has been no protest or lashing allegations on each other by the district and city units of both parties.

The Congress has been targeting the BJP for the slow pace of works in the city regarding Maha Kumbh.

During Nishank’s visit to the city, Congress workers staged a massive demonstration and tried to show black flags to the CM. Irked by this, the CM directed his party workers to give the same reply to the Congress.

With Rawat being the face of the Congress in Haridwar and lone representative of the party in the UPA-led union government, he faced the BJP’s ire the most.

Sugarcane is another issue, which is being used by both parties. BJP Lal Dangh head Nathi Ram says while the Congress is unable to check the rising inflation, the sugarcane base price is only Rs 107. “The UPA should change its sugarcane policy or else the BJP will stage a massive agitation,” said Nathi Ram.

With both sides trying to run down each other and get a green signal from the high command, it seems more of it is in the offing in the political front in Haridwar. 

Dehradun, November 4
While the transport administration was trying to convince protesting Tehri Garhwal Motors Union (TGMOU) members to bring their stir to an end, the protest that entered the fifth day today completely paralysed bus services in the Garhwal region.

Several rounds of talks between the Transport Department and the protesting TGMOU members failed to come to any solution. Dialogue was in progress at the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, Kiosks Union members today backed the protesters. A day earlier, the protesters had threatened to stage an hour-long jam at Badrakali tomorrow at 10 am.

All buses affiliated to TGMOU continued to keep off the road. Buses and even other smaller vehicles from Rishikesh and Haridwar failed to ply to Tehri Uttarakashi and other districts of Garhwal.

The protesters are resenting contractual permits for smaller vehicles, who, they argue, were breaking all public transport norms to suit their needs.

They also assert that while the Transport Department forces them to operate buses on  less profitable routes, vehicles like jeep etc, have no regard for the transport rules.

Roorkee, November 4
The new sugarcane policy by the central government has created a ruckus among cane growers in the area here.

As per the policy, the minimum support price (MSP) of sugarcane has been announced Rs 107.84 per quintal, which has brought the farmers of this famous cane belt on roads to protest against the government decision.

Terming the government decision as anti-farmers, the cultivators said it was time to do or die.

“Now it’s a question of our survival. While we were expecting over Rs 250 per quintal as MSP of our product, the announcement of Rs 107.84 per quintal as MSP is a cruel joke on us. With such a low price announcement by the central government, now the state governments can have the excuse against the increase of rate according to our demands,” lamented Rakesh Aggarwal, national secretary of the Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha.

The unexpected announcement by the Congress government also gave chance to the other political parties, here, to seek political mileage out of the issue by condemning the union government for setting such a meager bonus.

Even the state Tourism Minister Madan Kaushik, who also holds portfolios such as excise, sugarcane and urban development, criticised the central government’s move the other day while terming it as anti-farmer and unjustified. The leaders of Samajwadi Party, too, came in support of the farmers.

Various farmers’ bodies, including the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha and Rashtriya Kisan Sangam, came on one platform to form the Sanjhi Sangharsh Samiti to lead the protests against the government.

Hundreds of farmers, led by the samiti leaders, lodged protests in front of the office of the District Magistrate (Haridwar) today afternoon and gave a memorandum to the authorities.

“We gave the memorandum to the President of the country, Governor of the state and the state government through the DM in which we have requested that the state governments should be given the right to set the MSP of sugarcane”, said Aggarwal.

He added that the samiti had given a three-day ultimatum to the government to consider their demands otherwise protests would be intensified after that.

Meanwhile, following the announcement by the Centre, the rates of sugarcane also crashed at cane crushers.

“Prior to the announcement, the owners of cane crushers were offering Rs 250 per quintal. Now they are reluctant to give more than Rs 175 per quintal for the crop”, rued Puran Singh, a local cane grower.

Haridwar, November 4
After the mela administration, municipal ward members too have joined the bandwagon and alleged that Maha Kumbh developmental works are not being carried on a uniform basis in the mela area.

Municipal members rue that despite Maha Kumbh funds, the developmental works that are being carried are not in sync with the amount. The councillors staged a demonstration in front of the office of Mela Officer Anand Vardhan at CCR Towers.

Leader of Opposition Sanjay Sharma said after seeing the negligent attitude of the mela administration they had to resort to agitation. He said despite municipal members being the representatives of the wards of the city and thus knew better of their respective areas, no advice or help was sought from them by the mela administration.

“We even gave our suggestions to the authorities concerned, but we got no reply. We are not even called to meetings regarding Kumbh where our inputs and suggestions will come handy,” remarked Sharma.

While women councillor Lila Devi, who was quite vociferous, said with basic amenities like water, electricity and roads in a bad condition in her ward Brahmapuri, she had to face the public ire, which had voted her. “People point out that massive works are being done in the city, so why Brahmapuri is being neglected which comes in main Haridwar and is near Har-ki-Pauri,” stated Lila Devi.

Raising slogans of “Haridwar ki Upeksha -Sabhasadon ki Upeksha” (neglect of Haridwar is neglect of councillors), the ward members submitted a memorandum and warned that if the mela administration continued to act in such a way, they would move out to streets as Maha Kumbh was a matter of concern for them too.

Dehradun, November 4
Under the banner of the Mata Shishu Evam Parivar Kalyan Mahila Karamchari Sangh, scores of anganwadi workers and women health supervisors held a demonstration outside the Secretariat demanding immediate fulfilment of their long-pending demands.

“We are demanding removal of anomalies in the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, providing promotional avenues for anganwandi workers and a transparent transfer policy,” said Ganeshi Negi, president of the sangh.

The members later submitted a memorandum to Principal Secretary Keshav Desi Raju.

“We will be forced to call a strike on November 18 if our demands are not met,” warned Munni Gusain, treasurer of the sangh.

Nainital, November 4
Stating that the Kaladhungi incident was the worst case in his life, Nainital Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) MS Bangyal has stated that a special drive has been launched in Nainital district to make police personnel efficient in riot control.

The SSP admitted that police personnel at the Kaladhungi police station on the day of the incident in the second half of August had failed to make use of riot-control apparatus available with them. Because of this, an irate mob had burnt down the police station and thrashed police personnel. A Head Constable was torched to death by the mob. The trouble had started after the alleged killing of a block-level BJP leader by a BSP functionary in the premises of the police station.

“They failed to use tear gas shells or rubber bullets to control the mob. These things were available with them and they did not have to seek permission to use them to save their lives. The person who got killed did not have a helmet that could have saved his life,” he said.

The SSP was candid in saying that police personnel in Uttarakhand have little or no exposure to situations of law and order breakdown and riots. Hence, they do not know how to react to such situations. “But they have to be prepared for such eventualities and, hence, I am visiting police stations to ensure that they get trained properly,” he said.

Bangyal also expressed satisfaction at the functioning of his department in Nainital ever since he took over three months back. The figures made available by the police showed that out of the 205 criminal cases registered in the past three months, 182 had been worked out.

He said all the cases pertaining to heinous crime had been worked out by the police to the full satisfaction of the public. The cases that were pending mainly pertain to burglary and theft.

Nainital, November 4
Residents of Bageshwar have started a march to the national Capital seeking rail connectivity between Tanakpur and Bageshwar. The agitators plan to sit on a fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from November 9 to press their demand.

The agitators had gathered at the tehsil in Bageshwar on Tuesday under the banner of the Rail Nirman Sangharsh Samiti and raised slogans against the central government.

They accused the Centre of not paying heed to the genuine needs of residents of the region and alleged that a survey regarding setting up a rail track between Bageshwar and Tanakpur had been done in the British era and the project was found to be feasible.

They said in the absence of rail connectivity, development in the hills was being hampered. The march will proceed on the route surveyed in the British era.

Uttarakhand has been seeking rail development on the lines of the North-East. In July, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank had told Chairman of the Railway Board SS Khurana that the Centre should pay special attention to the requirements of Uttarakhand as it was a tourist destination visited by lakhs of people every year from across the world.

Nishank had said since the state shared international borders, it was all the more necessary to have proper rail connectivity.

Stating that rail connectivity should also be provided from stations other than Dehradun and Kathgodam, he had called for early laying down of railway tracks and starting of rail services between Rishikesh and Karnprayag, Tanakpur and Bageshwar, Dehradun and Kalsi, Ramnagar and Chaukhutiya along with Kicha and Khatima. Nishank had also sought a new train between Rameshwaram and Haridwar.

Haridwar, November 4
Visitors to the Maha Kumbh, slated to begin in January next year, will have to carry some proof of identity.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sanjay Gunjiyal has given directions to owners of hotels, dharamshalas, ashrams, guest and rest houses regarding identity-proof confirmation during a meeting of these establishments in the mela control room late in the evening.

Crores of devotees are expected to visit the holy city during the mega event.

Gunjiyal dwelt on the various points which these establishment owners and management would have to follow. In case, these were not followed, legal action would be taken against them.

“No one should be allowed to stay without verification and submission of his identity proofs, along with his or her cellular phone number. The cellular numbers should be cross checked by making a call at the very spot to avoid giving of fake numbers,” said Gunjiyal.

He added that if someone was behaving in a suspicious manner, the police should be informed immediately. The SSP also directed them to verify the antecedents of their employees with the area police station.

Information about foreign tourists must reach the police within 24 hours, he said.

Gunjiyal advised hotel and dharamshala owners to make proper parking arrangements for vehicles. He said it was the hotel management’s responsibility to see that vehicles were parked properly.

Dehradun, November 4
Providing a platform for students to showcase their creative abilities, a three-day district-level science exhibition began on the premises of Government Girls Inter-College (GGIC) here today.

Along with staff members and students, the chief guest for the occasion was Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi.

Around 50 colleges participated and made informative science-related models. “The exhibition takes place every year with a motive to generate awareness regarding new developments in the field of science and instill knowledge so that they are well versed in all departments,” said Krishna Gaud, teacher at GGIC.

The function began with a musical presentation. However, a large number of students were given topics such as climate change, green energy, importance of science in the life of human being and many other mind-boggling topics to judge their creative bent of mind.

Today the judges interpreted their knowledge and artistic abilities and tomorrow students will present a science fair, and on the concluding day a science drama will be represented. Certificates will be awarded to the winners, added Gaud.

Nainital, November 4
The jail authorities at the Haldwani sub-jail have a peculiar problem at hand. The problem does not pertain to managing prisoners or rowdy behaviour on their part, but of feeding them.

In the absence of realisation of the budgetary allocation marked for the jail, the authorities have run in debt with local shopkeepers who provide food to be served to jail inmates.

According to sources, the debt at hand is almost Rs 14 lakh and the jail authorities are eagerly awaiting the release of funds from the state government so that they can make payments to the shopkeepers. The jail is learnt to have about 700 inmates.

It is learnt that it was towards the end of 2008, that the jail authorities had received funds to the tune of Rs 29 lakh with which they had made payments pertaining to earlier purchases and routine expenditures. No money has been received since then.

Sources point out that the problem has been compounded by the fact that inflation has led to spiralling of prices of basic edible commodities like wheat flour, rice, cooking oil, vegetables and pulses. There has been another factor that has aggravated the problem at hand. This is the sudden influx of inmates who have been arrested in large numbers following the Kaladhungi incident. In the incident, a police personnel had been burnt to death by an irate mob that had resorted to large-scale arson and violence. The trouble had started with the alleged gunning down of a block-level BJP leader by a BSP functionary. Several arrests have been made in the case so far and all of them are in this jail.

Talking to The Tribune, Jailor TD Joshi said: “We are just awaiting the release of funds which will be coming soon. The authorities at the senior level have been apprised of the problem”.

“There is no crisis as such and the jail kitchen is functioning normally. Foodgrain can be procured at any time by the District Magistrate through emergency powers vested with him,” he added.

Officials say it is the foodgrain merchants who are creating a noise about their pending payments and trying to portray a dismal picture of the jail.

Dehradun, November 4
Twentyeight-year-old wife of a labourer committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan with a dupatta at her Shivaji Nagar residence here this morning.

No suicide note was found from the spot. The police said she had been frustrated for a long time because she had five kids. Her husband told the police that their elder child is 10 years old, and the youngest child is 10 months old.