Nainital, December 17
The Power Department continues to draw ire from various segments of society in Kumaon. On Wednesday, a large number of residents at Jaspur and Khatima protested against the unscheduled power cuts in their respective localities.

In Jaspur, agitators, led by the National Students Union of India (NSUI), burnt an effigy of the state government on the issue of continuing unscheduled power cuts.

Meanwhile in Khatima, it was the activists of the Ekta Yuva Sangathan that burnt an effigy of the department. The agitators pointed out that the power cuts were affecting the studies of children besides putting other consumers to inconvenience.

Nainital, December 17
Uttarakhand’s biggest regional party, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) has aired vociferous opposition to the idea of merger of villages located in adjoining Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore and Saharanpur into the state.

Talking to The Tribune, senior UKD leader Narayan Sing Jantwal said the idea was not acceptable to his party at all. He said, “The purpose for which Uttarakhand was created to bring about development in the hill regions which had been left behind in the country’s march towards the development. The state has been nowhere near achieving this goal over the past nine years. In fact, 85 per cent of the state is still far behind on the parameters of development.”

The UKD leader pointed out that Uttarakhand, because of it’s primarily hill topography and related economy, has been getting some special benefits from the centre.

He further added that the inclusion of these villages in the state would also lead to a change in the demography of the state and this would defeat the purpose for which the state was carved out.

He said the party’s opposition to this proposed inclusion was not an issue of a hill plain divide.

“Even the residents of the Terai region of the state have been opposing this very idea,” he said.

Jantwal once again expressed his reservations about the new delimitation of constituencies in the state. “There was no need to go in for a fresh delimitation over here. But it was the bigger parties which were bent on it and took the people for a ride,” he added.

Trying to generate hype on this issue, the UKD activists burnt an effigy of Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Harak Singh Rawat at Haldwani on Wednesday for his reported advocacy of the inclusion of the villages. The activists said Rawat should be clear whether he was a leader of Uttarakhand or Uttar Pradesh. The agitators also attacked Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank for his reported sympathetic views on the issue.

Nishank had stated that his government had been seriously considering the demands of these villages and a resolution in this regard would be brought in the winter session of the state assembly.

There has been a persistent demand from the people of these villages, who have been facing a lot of practical difficulties to get into Uttarakhand, but without any success.

However, their struggle has got an impetus with the clamour of formation of smaller states and demand by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to divide the state into smaller states of Harit Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal.

Interestingly, at the time of the formation of Uttarakhand, a committee of the Uttar Pradesh government headed by senior ruling BJP leader Kalraj Mishra had come to Dehradun to assess such demands from the neighbouring areas of Uttar Pradesh.

A representative delegation of the people of Saharanpur district had also called upon him and forcefully demanded that Saharanpur district should be made a part of the new state. However, their demand was rejected out rightly.

The political class of the forthcoming state, particularly of the ruling BJP and RSS, were wary of the idea of inclusion of Saharanpur district as they felt that it would disturb the demographic equation of the new state with the inclusion of the plain district having a large Muslim population.

Dehradun, December 17
The Congress’ Cell for Minorities in Uttarakhand has accused the BJP government of failing to utilise central funds meant for minorities’ welfare in the state.

At a press conference in Dehradun, cell’s chairman Haji Rao Sher Mohammad said the central funds meant for minorities in Uttarakhand stood un-utilised due to un-concernedly attitude of the state BJP government.

Accusing the BJP government of doing little for the welfare of minorities, Mohammad said while there had been no initiative towards constitution of various boards meant for the minorities, even the appointments of Urdu teachers, started by the earlier Congress government, had come to a halt. “Boards like Waqf Board, Haj Committee, Madarsa Board, Muslim Education Mission were yet to re-constitute, which was putting adverse impact towards betterment of the Muslim community,”
he argued.

While seeking funds for Piran Kaliyar on the lines of Kumbh mela, he said civic amenities were in a poor state of affairs at Kaliyar that held much of importance of Muslims worldwide.

He said incomplete Haj house was testimony to the government apathy towards the Muslim community.

While accusing the state government of completely sidelining the minority community in the state, he sought at least 12 per cent reservation for minorities in the government jobs.

Mohammad said the cell would be participating in the Congress’ protest on December 21 at Dehradun in a big way. “We are mobilising the minority communities and will ensure their big participation in the protest,” he said.

He also took the opportunity to announce the appointment of Haji Nor Hasan as Dehradun district president of the cell for minorities.

Dehradun, December 17
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today launched a Ganga cleaning campaign named Sparsh Ganga at Muni-ki-Reti in Rishikesh.

At a function at Sampurnanand Inter College, Muni-ki-Reti, Nishank announced Rs 11 lakh for the campaign, which is being jointly organised by the National Service Scheme cell of HNB Garhwal University. He also declared December 17 as the Ganga Cleaning Day.

He reminded that with over 6.5 crore pilgrims expected to take a dip in the Ganga during the Maha Kumbh in Haridwar, it was an important opportunity to disseminate the message of the Ganga cleaning world over.

Programme officer, NSS, Prabhakar Badoni said 55,000 students had associated themselves with the campaign so far and the number of volunteers would increase in the near future. Under the campaign, volunteers of the NSS from around 200 schools would clean the Ganga and its tributaries.

Garhwal University Vice-Chancellor MSN Rawat, Parliamentary Secretary Prem Chandra Agrawal, MLA Om Gopal Rawat, ITI Advisory Board vice-chairman Gyan Singh Negi and others were present at the function.

Nainital, December 17
The Minister of State for Education, Gobind Singh Bisht has appealed to the farmers of the hilly regions of the state to go in for voluntary consolidation of their land holdings. He has said that this will not only make farming easy for the farmers but will also help them protect their land from wild animals.

Bisht was speaking on the occasion of foundation stone laying ceremony of a laboratory and classrooms of a school adopted by IFFCO in Patlot area of the remote Okhalkanda block of Nainital district on Wednesday.

While students were provided with woollen pullovers at the function organised by IFFCO, more than 400 farmers were provided with seeds of French Bean.

Senior agricultural scientists provided the know how to the farmers regarding the use of modern techniques in increasing their agricultural produce. They were also told about the appropriate use of pesticides. 

Dehradun, December 17
A share investor, who was allegedly duped of lakhs of rupees by a share broker company today, raised his voice in front of the media against the police inaction into the matter and the operation of company’s local branch without an agreement.

Bharat Bhushan Gupta alleged that employees of Anand Rathi Commodity Limited had approached him to invest in shares with their company assuring him that it would give him high profits.

They had entered into a contract in 2006. But to the shock of Gupta, the company allegedly invested his shares of Rs 50 lakh in market from his account without his permission, he alleged.

The victim, a resident of Dharampur, said he had lodged an FIR against three employees of the company namely Sudhir, Vipin and Sonu. The police later filed a charge sheet against them and the local court issued non-bailable warrants against the accused after they didn’t turn up at the court.

Gupta added that even though the police had filed a charge sheet in one of the cases but in two other cases in which he had lodged FIRs against other employees of the company nothing was done by the police.

He accused the police of buckling under political pressure, as it was a big company.

He said he had written to the Finance Minister and he passed on the case to the investment regulatory body, but nothing happened.

Gupta cited concern over the operation of company’s branch in Dehradun. He alleged: “Even though that the company branch was being operated from the city, it has its agreement in Mumbai and in case of any dispute, one has to go to Mumbai for settlement. The people of the city should be aware of this before investing in shares in the company.” 

Roorkee, December 17
In order to ease traffic problems in Roorkee town, the authorities have decided to re-carpet the Puhana-Gurukul Narsan and Bhagwanpur-Dhanauri roads before the start of the Maha Kumbh next year.

A fund of Rs 12.31 crore have been allocated to the Public Works Department from Kumbh budget for the repair of Puhana-Gurukul Narsan road while for Bhagwanpur-Dhanauri road, a sum of Rs 3.42 crore has been given out.

With the starting of full-fledge traffic flow on the roads, the traffic congestion problem on the roads here would be solved drastically.

Not only the town’s denizens but the natives of the many nearby villages would also get relief with the starting of these roads. With the starting of Puhana-Gurukul Narsan road, the commuters from Delhi to Dehradun would not have to pass through Roorkee.

On the other hand, the Bhagwanpur-Dhanauri road would facilitate the entire traffic from Saharanpur to Haridwar. The starting of the road after re-carpeting would be a big help in easing out the traffic pressure on Roorkee roads during Maha Kumbh as this road would also be used as alternative route to the Haridwar.

For Nanota-Manglore road, the authorities have also released a budget of Rs 8.09 crore. The road, which was constructed during Ardh-Kumbh, is in a miserable condition. With its repair many villages of the area, including Thaska, Lehboli, Lakhnota etc would incur benefits.

“The decision of repairing the roads should have taken much before. By using these roads, we can save distance of several km,” said Mohinder Singh, a resident of Lehboli village.

Notably, the Roorkee has been proving traffic bottleneck of late and the condition will be deteriorating in the coming days during Maha Kumbh.

“These didis and bhaiyas (volunteers of the NSS) have come up here a few hours ago. They gathered us here on the spot to give us some instructions to keep the environment clean but no information has been given till now.

In fact, they are making us pick up the garbage and dump it in a sack,” complained Arjun, one of the rag pickers at the Bindal spot.

Many Arjuns were busy picking trash on behalf of NSS volunteers here today. The promise to remove filth from the banks of rivulets and other water bodies by the NSS volunteers seems to be fading away on the second day of the commencement of the Sparsh Ganga Movement, as the young helping hands of society were found seeking help from urchins of slums.

The NSS volunteers from different schools were spotted directing rag pickers to clean up the area at Bindal while they themselves covered noses to avoid stink.

The volunteers, when asked as why they are making the slum children do their work, remained quite. Their in charge explained that the rag pickers were not called here to work but to seek awareness through our initiative.

The movement aims at making the Ganga clean and free from pollution. This state-level programme initiated by the National Service Scheme (NSS) of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna (HNB) Garhwal University, was started to spread awareness among people to conserve water.

Over 35, 000 NSS volunteers along with the staff of municipal boards, nagar panchayats and local administrative offices in Uttrakhand are taking part in the programme. The movement would further move to the Kumaon region later.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank inaugurated the movement at Purnanda Inter College ground, Rishikesh, today. 

Dehradun, December 17
Fifteen-day long art and culture extravaganza Virasat will bring together artistes and craftsmen from different parts of the country on one platform.

Bhojpuri superstar Manoj Tiwari, ghazal singer Rajkumar Rizvi, Pandit Rajan Sajan Mishr, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Hansraj Hans are among the artistes who will regale the audience.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, patron of the Rural Entrepreneurship for Art and Cultural Heritage (REACH) and Mayor of Dehradun Vinod Chamoli said efforts would be made to popularise the festival so that in times to come it was identified with the city and also pulled in tourists. “The festival is quite old and popular and we need it to make it popular like the Surujkund mela,” said Chamoli.

The main focus of the festival would be on Uttarakhand artistes who would be coming from remote areas of the state. The festival would open with Nanda Devi Jagar by the Centre for Folk Performing Arts and Culture, HNB Garhwal University. 

Nainital, December 17
Children in Haldwani and Lal Kuan will be treated to a series of films during week-long Children’s Film Festival to be held at two places from February 5.

The decision to hold the festival was taken at a meeting held at the Collectorate here today. Officials of the Education Department and the Entertainment Tax Department have been asked to collaborate regarding the festival. The Education Department has been asked to prepare a list of schools whose children will be shown the films in the five cinema houses located in Haldwani and Lal Kuan.

The festival would be organised at the behest of the Children’s Film Committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It was decided at the meeting that the films would be shown free of cost from 9 am to 10.30 am daily to children studying in class IV to IX in various schools. The entertainment tax for the films would be paid by the committee.

A spokesperson said the festival was being held in February as the schools would be closed for winter vacations in January.

The children of Nainital, however, will have to miss the festival as there are no functional cinema halls in the town. 

Dehradun, December 17
Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police today sent a proposal to the Inspector General of Garwhal Region recommending him to transfer the police personnel posted at Dehradun to other districts of the state for they haven’t improved even after being punished for indiscipline and carelessness shown by them during their service.

There is a list of 12 cops who the SSP proposed to transfer to other districts of the state.

He, in the proposal, has stated that several times action has been taken against these cops for indiscipline and carelessness but they haven’t improved.