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Cattle Purchase
‘Til ka Tad’ evokes laughter
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UPA obstructing funds: BJP
Rawat is chief of city UKD
NREGA
Cong supports Doiwala residents
SP observes Communal Harmony Day
1,500 papers presented during convention on Vedas
Hospitals lack infection control policy: Study
Green Doon activists foil tree felling on Rajpur Road
Showcasing the humane side of policemen
Power supply resumes after 20 hours
Journalist, associate booked
Robbery Case
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Congress leader calls off dharna
Tribune News Service
Nainital, November 22 Pratap had been alleging that persons from a minority community and those coming from Uttar Pradesh for the purchase of bullocks were being harassed and accused of taking the animals for slaughter. According to Pratap, the assurance has been conveyed to him by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Ramnagar, Anoop Kumar Nautiyal. He said the Gandhian protest started by him forced the District Magistrate to depute a three-man team to probe the matter. He has now threatened to launch another round of agitation if the persons, who were arrested in the past few days while they were returning from the fair with animals, are not released. He demanded that a vigilance probe be ordered against the erring police officials. Pratap said he would take up the issue before the National Commission for Minorities if the state government fails to act against these officials.
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‘Til ka Tad’ evokes laughter
Nainital, November 22 The first play that was staged on the chilly Saturday evening was “Til ka Tad”. It was a comedy that left the audience in peals of laughter. Directed by Bhuvan Bisht and staged by artistes of Rangmanch Group, the play revolves around the plight of young boys employed in various cities and their problems in getting rental accommodation as they are bachelors. In the play, Pran Nath Swami is one such bachelor who has taken up an accommodation by telling a lie about his marital status. When his landlord threatens to throw him out if he does not produce his wife in 24 hours, the boy is left with no option but to get a girl to enact out the drama of being his wife. One complication leads to another providing several hilarious situations for the audience. The second play performed by the artistes of Prayogank (Seed) was “Prabhuji Bachana”. It was directed by Madan Mehra. The play is based on a satire written by Harishankar Parsai “Bholaram ka Jeev”. It hits out at the corrupt bureaucracy in India and the prevailing red tapism. The play delivers its message with the help of mythological characters. A Yamdoot is baffled to find that the soul of a human, Bholaram, that he was bringing to the gates of heaven, has vanished midway. The god then deputes Narada to find the soul. Narada is told by Bholaram’s widow that the poor retired government servant had died writing one application after the other to get his pension. Thinking of helping the poor widow, Narada approaches the Pension Department for Bholaram’s pension where the officials fleece him of his bracelet and even his ektara, a music instrument. It is here that he finds the soul of Bholaram buried in the file containing his
pension papers. The presentation of both plays was excellent. After the presentation of the plays, eminent theatre personality Zahoor Alam said: “It is heartening to know that theatre is being revived in Nainital that has produced artistes of excellence in the past.” Another eminent artiste, Hemant Bisht, said: “Nainital has immense talent and can come up with excellent performances. It is good that
a new beginning has been made once again.” |
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UPA obstructing funds: BJP
Dehradun, November 22 Announcing demonstrations at various district headquarters in Uttarakhand on November 28, state BJP President Bisan Singh Chufal said the UPA government has stopped the additional grant of Rs 350 crore provided to the state, which has thrown the state into a financial crisis. He alleged that the Centre had been deliberately ignoring the concerns of Uttarakhand. “Even in the release of BPL quota, the Centre was adopting a hostile attitude,” he added. While admitting that Uttarakhand also needed to manage its resources, Chufal said sectors of quarrying and excise needed to be taken up in priority to strengthen the state financial arrangements. He said providing Sixth Pay Commission recommendations had been the prime reason behind the sudden rise in state expenses, but hoped an early overcoming of the crisis. He said the BJP was in favour of craving out four more districts in the state taking into account the growing concerns of people of these regions. Didhat, Ranikhet, Kashipur and Kotdwar could be the new four new districts. “Smaller districts will be better administrative units and will help in addressing the concerns of the region in a better manner,” Chufal said. The Uttarakhand BJP President did not fail to mention that the state BJP government was infusing all-round development. He said the BJP was catering to the concerns of every section of the society. |
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Rawat is chief of city UKD
Dehradun, November 22 The clouds of doubts subsided when Virender Singh Bisht, the other candidate vying for the same position, withdrew his name
and seconded the name of Rawat at the last moment. Rawat thanked Bisht for his graciousness and said he would complete the task assigned to him with full honesty and hard work. He said, “I will do my best to work in the interest of party and strengthen its position in the region”. Bisht, who created the suspense till the end as he did not draw his name even on 18 November, the date for withdrawal, called his tactic as an exercise to bolster the democratic process in the party. “I wanted to pose a challenge and begin a democratic process of fighting it out. But I had made up my mind to give support to Rawat, my dear friend and capable party man, and had informed my seniors about the decision,” he said. Bisht denies being pressurised for doing volte-face at 11th hour. Observer RL Nawani said, “We had made it clear that nobody will put pressure on Bisht, but yes, we had told him in no uncertain terms that if he withdraws his name, it will be in the interest of party”. |
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Almora MP blames admn for non-implementation
Rajeev Khanna Tribune News Service
Nainital, November 22 Talking to The Tribune, Tamta said, “I conducted a review meeting at the behest of the Ministry of Rural Development in Almora on Saturday and found to my dismay that the performance of the administration with regard to these two schemes is dismal. “I had postponed this meeting that was scheduled to be held last month when I had found that the officials had come unprepared, but the results even this time are far from satisfactory.” Tamta said that despite there being 94,000 card holders in the district, only 39,000 persons were given work under the scheme. “When a person is taking the pains of getting his photograph clicked and getting a job card made, it means that he is interested in doing work and this is being denied to him,” he said. He said that lower-level officials were not interested in doing the paper work involved in the implementation of the scheme. He pointed that if a card holder demands work and is denied the same for 15 days, he becomes eligible for unemployment allowance. In this case, the unemployment allowance is to be given by the state government and it reflects poorly on its performance with respect to NREGA. This is what the officials were trying to avoid. “The state government gets into a position of paying unemployment allowance only when all development works in a village are complete. This is hardly the case in any village in Uttarakhand,” the parliamentarian said. He added, “NREGA is a scheme that can transform any village. For example in Almora district, lots of projects can be started with regard to water harvesting and conservation. But the officials are least interested in motivating people.” He claimed that the case is similar with regard to the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. “The Chief Minister keeps on saying that the Centre is not paying attention towards the development of Uttarakhand but it is their own government that has failed to come up with concrete proposals. “It has recently come to light in Parliament that Uttarakhand is among the states with least growth,” he pointed out. Tamta added that the state government is totally negligent with respect to development of roads in rural areas. He said that he has asked senior officials in the district administration to have monthly reviews with regard to the implementation of these schemes and conveyed that he would also be conducting periodic checks.
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Cong supports Doiwala residents
Dehradun, November 22 Former state minister Manish Kumar Nagpal, who was leading the protest, alleged people of the area were suffering due to an apathetic attitude of the government. The protesters demanded that the government hospital in Doiwala be expanded to 60 beds, Doiwala should be made a tehsil as it was 22 km from Dehradun, a fire station, better roads, and handpumps be opened in public places and the Sixth Pay Commission be implemented in all corporations. They submitted a memorandum of their demands to the state Governor. |
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SP observes Communal Harmony Day
Dehradun, November 22 He said, “Minority communities live throughout length and breadth of the country. Any kind of bias against them will break the country into pieces. Mulayam Singh Yadav, a great leader, has been fighting relentlessly for the welfare of minority classes all these years”. Senior leader Durga Dass Verma urged people to wage a war against communalism. District president Gulfam said public support was crucial to maintain communal harmony. He said, “Both Hindu and Muslim mutually fought the fight for independence. They are equal halves of a whole cultural fabric”. Educationist SN Sachan expressed concern over the never-ending chasm between the rich and poor, and justice and equality. |
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1,500 papers presented during convention on Vedas
Haridwar, November 22 He was addressing the concluding day of the International Veda Convention being held at Gurukul Kangri University. The convention saw hundreds of research papers being presented by scholars of Vedas who had
come from not only India, but across the world. In the three-day convention, a total of 1,500 research
papers were presented during over 77 sessions held in 11 auditoriums. Addressing the ceremony as a special guest, head of Maharshi Ved Vyas Peeth, Pune, Govind Giri Ji Maharaj, said while it was essential to read out research papers and thesis on the Vedas, it was more important that all forms of education led to unity in society. Merely research papers could not change history, he added. On the modern education system, the Maharaj pointed that it was for everybody to see that where the current education was headed. He said the need was to make the country more of Bharat and lesser of India. Laying stress on taking one subject at a time for research as all subjects are covered in the Vedas, Bala Krishan said the time had come to make world countries understand the power of the Vedas in their respective languages. He also remarked that one should not limit oneself to conducting and attending of conventions on the Vedas but should carry out solid works, which research scholars have highlighted in their papers. Adding to this point, Prof Ved Prakash Shastri said the Vedas were the voice of the God. Putting them in bags merely won’t do, but one should implement the teachings of the Vedas in life. Today’s convention was coordinated by Prof Mahavir Aggarwal of Sanskrit University, Haridwar. The convention saw participation by Dr Shanti Pokhriyal from Silchr, Assam, Dr JP Aggarwal from the US, Acharya Brahum Dutt Sharma, Suparkar from Ankola, Daya Shankar Vidyalankar, Dr Sangeeta from Benaras, Dr Shyam Narayan Pandey besides other noted experts on the Vedas. |
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Hospitals lack infection control policy: Study
Dehradun, November 22 The two government hospitals, namely the Doon Hospital and District Women’s Hospital, are still to develop a credible infection control system for health workers, as they are continuously at risk of being exposed to potentially dangerous blood-borne pathogens, including HIV due to injury, needles, etc. In a study undertaken by BR Panhotra, Prof Sardar Bhagwan Das Post Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research Balawala, Dehradun, it was pointed out that in government hospitals, hundreds of health workers are at risk, as majority of hospitals do not have infection department to formulate infection control policy for the workers. There is no strict policy on hand washing by health care workers after attending a patient, hospitals lack antibiotic policy on hand washing in hospitals to prevent the appearance of multi-drug resistant bacteria and policy on isolation of patients having multi-resistant bacterial infections. In some instances, doctors too are careless about washing hands, putting themselves at risk of acquiring infection. “The MDR tuberculosis patients should be isolated in the area having negative pressure, but still these facilities are lacking. “The policy on protective immunisation of the health care workers needs to be strictly implemented for their protection,” said Professor Panhotra, who presented his paper at a national symposium held recently in Dehradun. He said the hospitals in Dehradun were still to come up with specific data available on needle-stick injuries in the hospital. “According to one estimate, more than 1.7 billion syringes are sold in the country annually and about 5 billion injections administered, sometimes by inadequately trained staff. “Most of such incidents go unreported though an estimated one million needle stick injuries (NSIs) happen every year, over 2,700 every day of which up to 60 per cent go unreported. “Fiftysix per cent of reported occupational NSIs could have been prevented with the use of safety devices,” pointed the study. The health workers acquire a range of life-threatening infections such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and hepatits C leading in many instances to distress, sickness and even fatality. |
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Green Doon activists foil tree felling on Rajpur Road
Dehradun, November 22 As many as 84 trees at Ashiyana (housing President’s bodyguards), at the prime location on Rajpur Road, were to be felled and
the exercise was slated to begin today. But, a prompt arrival of Citizens for Green Doon’s members at the spot prevented the
tree felling. The members, who came to know about the tree felling plans, not only prevented the felling of trees but also sought intervention of the district authorities in the matter. “These native trees that number around 84 are quite thick in girth. Felling of these trees will be a great loss to Dehradun that has witnessed rampant felling of trees in the recent times,” Dr Nitin Pandey, a member of Citizens for Green Doon, said. Interestingly, on enquiry by the members, a JCO, posted at Ashiyana, said the trees had to be felled to make way for planting mango saplings, a reason with a little basis. He also claimed to have got permission both from his higher authorities and the Forest Department for the purpose. This stretch of Rajpur Road, where Ashiyana is located, has some of the oldest trees of Dehradun. Significantly, Dehradun District Magistrate’s office had recently filed an affidavit in the Uttarakhand High Court where it had pledged to ensure that there was no more felling of trees taking place in Dehradun. The Citizens for Green Doon had actively participated in the protests against chopping of trees at Parade Ground. It, along with sports persons and other organisations, had organised a series of protests against the environment unfriendly act. Dehradun, the interim capital
of Uttarakhand, has been witness to rampant felling of trees, leading to increasing concern among environmentalists. |
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Showcasing the humane side of policemen
Dehradun, November 22 The two pictures on the cover page, one showcasing a cop holding a gun and another helping an old woman, justify the twin profiles of a cop, of being tough as well as compassionate. This book, which was released by Dr Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, Chief Minister Uttarakhand, on Sunday, strings together real life incidents and anecdotes of Kumar’s career in the Indian Police Service as an officer, who having been born and bred in a rural landscape emerges from the IIT, Delhi, with an intention to serve, and finally finds his true calling as an upright cop. The gripping narratives, written in a simple and readable style in a compact set of 16-17 stories, brings out happenings from a distinguished career spanning over 20 years. It talks about burning contemporary social evils such as gang rape, encounter, terrorism and the depreciation of values, most significantly, basic police procedure, that is designed to serve powerless and yet mostly ends up serving a powerful few. Sensitivity emerged out as the badly required trait in police personnel. Nishank, too, agreed to it saying that the nation and its people who lack this trait are dead in their spirits. He applauded the state for getting rid of 150-year-old Police Act by inventing a fresh one for itself, and stressed for the same procedure to be followed for Indian Administrative Services, which is still owning an old and redundant system set by the British. The author was also fully convinced that sensitivity and credibility of policemen are at stake and, if they are taken care of, then it can make world of difference for both common people and policemen. Kumar said: “My book depicts that insensitiveness creeps in police personnel after they are inundated with scores of crime-related issues. But, if they see each case from the point of view of victim, for whom it is perhaps the first such mishap of his life, then they will not fall in the predictable trap and will serve people in right spirit, and it will improve their credibility also” It took Kumar one year to write this book. The facts were readily available, thanks to his habit of writing diary. He said: “I have this habit of writing which made me to win the award of Best IIT Creative during my stint as an IIT student. I was skeptical in the beginning, then I took help of my friend, Lokesh Ohri, a sociologist, and began writing this book, which deals less with legal and administrative aspects and more with human. I have religiously stuck to the facts.” Kumar said he deliberately
left out the controversial subjects, including political interference in bureaucracy, which he just
mentioned fleetingly about in the last chapter. He said: “I did not want to deviate attention from the core idea of my book, establishing mutual cordial relations between the common man and the police, by miring into unnecessary controversies. I would rather write about them after retirement.” Ohri pitched in saying: “The book is neither preachy nor a research document. It will instil realisation in men in uniform about the common man’s concerns and also encourage the common man to ensure that he is served with greater efficiency.” It has been a tough rope walking for him for being honest and human police officer for Kumar, as he said: “It is definitely an insurmountable challenge to remain honest and have a successful police career but it certainly is
not impossible. Police personnel who are supposed to be public servants became bossy after the
Indian Police was converted into Indian Police Service.” He hopes this book will do the needful in that direction. The book, comprising 153 pages, has been priced Rs 195. By next month, its English version, “Men in Khakhi” will hit the stands. |
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Power supply resumes after 20 hours
Nainital, November 22 Areas of Almora, Champawt, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar were plunged into darkness as the 132 KV power line from Kathgodam to Almora developed a snag on Friday evening. Three teams of officials from the Power Transmission Corporation of Uttarakhand (PITCUL) were deputed to locate the fault and rectify the problem. It is learnt that the teams started patrolling from 5 am in the morning and it was only around noon that the fault was located in the dense forests near Nathuvakhan. The power supply was resumed after the fault was rectified in another two-and-half-hours. Location of fault in the dense forests becomes an arduous task for officials of the Power Department. The ever-growing load on the supply line is the reason for the development of snags. At present, the 132 KV line from Kathgodam is the sole source of power for the hill districts of the region. This line provides power from the national grid at Bareilley. The residents of the region have been demanding an alternate source of power for the past few years. |
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Journalist, associate booked
Dehradun, November 22 Station House Officer of the Shaspur police station said Gyan Singh and Anjula of a local electronic channel had demanded Rs 2 lakh from Kumar Auto Sales manager. The SHO said the manager of the bank had complained to the police alleging that Vikram, known to them, was sent by Gyan to Mumbai on the promise of getting him a job. But it has been about three years that he had not returned. When the manager asked them to tell the location of the child, the duo demanded Rs 2 lakh. The police said the missing boy’s mother had come to them several times pleading to search for her son. |
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Police suspects tribal group, working with Paonta police
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, November 22 The police suspect that some tribal group had committed the robbery and the same gang had committed the crime in Paonta Sahib. Police sources said they were looking into the robbery cases in which tribal gangs were involved. Besides this, police teams had also been sent to Muradabad and other nearby places. The senior officials expressed confidence of the success of the police teams that are investigating the matter. According to victims, the robbers besides the cash and jewellery had also taken away clothes and chappals of the house occupants with them. They were wearing kurtas and knickers and had trimmed beard. Unlike other robbers and thieves, they had completely dismantled the door of the house rather than breaking the lock or bolt of the door or finding some other way. This all gave strong indications to the police of the involvement of some tribal gang. In the incident eight to 10 burglars had robbed two houses of cash and jewellery over Rs 2 lakh in Laxmipur area. They had also allegedly beaten the house residents while trying to snatch their ornaments. They had hit a woman with a rod on her head resulting, which she was admitted to Doon Hospital. This is the second such incident in the Basant Vihar area in a week’s time. On November 15, about five robbers had robbed three neighbouring houses one by one of cash and ornaments worth Rs 5 lakh after holding the house residents hostage.
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Nainital, November 22
Dehradun, November 22
