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Bhagat takes oath as cabinet minister
Goof-ups at ceremony upset Guv
NREGA: DM pulls up village head, officer
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Ministerial Staff Strike
Scope for RTI amendments, says Info Commissioner
Development staff to get revised pay soon
Wife, paramour held for trader’s murder
Eco Man shaves head over demands
State to present glimpse of Kumbh on R-Day
Ranbir Case
Rs 91 lakh for rural development in Roorkee
Labourer commits suicide
Man-eater leopard shot
Chakrata Road Widening
CM remembers Netaji
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Bhagat takes oath as cabinet minister
Dehradun, January 22 Bhagat took the oath in the presence of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. Ajay Joshi, Principal Secretary, Uttarakhand, compered the swearing-in proceedings. Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor, Deputy Speaker Vijaya Barathwal, former Chief Ministers BC Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Diwakar Bhatt and state minister Khazan Das were prominent among the audience. After being inducted in the Nishank cabinet, Bhagat said he had been given yet another opportunity to serve the people and would try to stand up to
their expectations. He also recalled his old association with Nishank and asserted that he had worked with him since 1991 and hoped for an excellent coordination between them. The Uttarakhand Chief Minister said he kept high expectations from Bhagat and considered his contribution as minister vital for the development of Uttarakhand. Inhabitants from the Halwani and Ramnagar regions were also present outside the venue. They greeted Bhagat with flower bouquets. Bhagat, who was a minister in the Khanduri cabinet, was dropped by Nishank when he was made the Chief Minister. |
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Goof-ups at ceremony upset Guv
Dehradun, January 22 The Governor, who rushed to the auditorium, got struck on the very entrance of the auditorium and was about to fall when she somehow managed to get hold of one of the doors. Then came another irritant, while the Governor took to the stage, the Chief Minister was left on the floor due to a sudden start of the National Anthem. The Chief Minister stood steady on the ground while the Governor was standing upright on the dais. This irked the Governor, who publicly expressed her displeasure over the event. It was only after the National Anthem was sung the Chief Minster ascended the stairs to daisfor the swearing-in ceremony. The swearing-in ceremony in the newly constructed auditorium was also a matter of interest for the audience. |
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NREGA: DM pulls up village head, officer
Nainital, January 22 Bagauli was appalled to discover that they have not made and distributed job cards to the beneficiaries of the scheme till now. The DM was on a visit to the remote belt of the district and held a grievance redressal camp for the residents of this far-flung area yesterday. Ordering the BDO to probe the delay in the construction of a panchayatghar in Okhaldunga, he said that the work should resume within the next fortnight failing which the concerned gram pradhan would be liable to face administrative action. The District Magistrate asked the gram pradhans and other public representatives to identify jobs pertaining to water collection and conservation along with afforestation and get them done under the NREGA. He also asked the Social Welfare Officer to identify the beneficiaries of various pension schemes at the earliest. He was apprised of no less than 104 issues to which the residents sought redressal. He was able to dispose off some of these on the spot. Pulling up the employees of the Public Works Department (PWD) for the delay in repairing the road to Don Pareva that experiences frequent landslides, he ordered that the estimates for the job be made at the earliest so that funds can be allocated for the same. The issues that dominated the day-long proceedings pertained to voluntary consolidation of land holdings, shortage of teachers in Rayka, Banuliya and Haldu, demand for opening an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for the women of the area and the repair of the Ramnagar-Bhandarpani road. A large number of officials from various departments like Revenue, Health, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture and Social Welfare were also present at the camp for on-the-spot redressal of the grievances pertaining to their departments. A large number of people were provided with certificates pertaining to their income, caste and domicile. |
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Ministerial Staff Strike
Dehradun, January 22 Pundir further alleged that even the district magistrate’s were not putting the actual situation before the Chief Minister. He added that CM at a meeting ordered the DM to ask the employees to call off the strike but nothing happened and nothing would happen till the CM make a decision. The regional president said the administration had a meeting with them but it failed to reach the consensus. “We are just waiting for the government decision to approve our demands otherwise we would continue here with the strike,” he said. |
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Scope for RTI amendments, says Info Commissioner
Nainital, January 22 He also candidly admitted that the state has a long way to go in spreading awareness about this tool that the masses can use in seeking healthy and transparent governance. Nautiyal was participating in a daylong workshop on the RTI at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI) here. The participants in the workshop included the Information Officers and the Appellate Officers of the district. “The people at all levels need to understand the importance of the RTI. The officials and the ruling party should not see it as a tool being used against them. They should look at it as a tool that ensures a healthy system of governance and a tool that ensures transparency. What is the need to hide when no wrong has been done?”
he said. He said in the ancient times kings used to send their spies amongst common people to find out what the latter thought of the governance. Now, when the people themselves are seeking information from those in the government, there is a reluctance to impart with the information sought. The Information Commissioner was particularly critical of some of the educational institutions and some of the NGOs for their reluctance in divulging information to the people. Talking about the former he said, “If they are running their institutions in a transparent manner and are admitting students as per the prescribed norms, what is there to hide? Referring to the NGOs he said they are very much accountable to the people as they get large amount of grants from the government to execute works in the social sphere. Claiming that Uttarakhand is one of the states where work in the RTI has been commendable he said the state has managed to produce excellent literature pertaining to the Act that can be used by the people. At the same time he pointed that the biggest challenge before he proponents of the Act is the lack of awareness amongst the people. He said at present there are very few cases pending before
the Commission. He said the Commission would like to have more and more cases coming before it as it would go a long way towards empowering the masses of
the state. The participants at the workshop came up with interesting problems and suggestions. For example it was pointed that there are applicants that are seeking information on a given subject repeatedly. It was also pointed that since the government departments are already starved of strength, it is difficult to gather information at a
short notice. The participants also pointed that information that can be given only at the District Headquarter level is at times directed to officials at block level thus complicating things. At interesting point raised by a Panchayati Raj official was that since the gram Pradhans are also the Information Officers and since the village panchayats do not have a permanent office, problems arise in depositing of fee sent by the applicants as well
as sending them the information. Nautiyal said the Commission has taken up the matter with the Chief Secretary and it has been suggested that the Village Development Officer be made the Information Officer instead of the gram Pradhan. A meeting on the matter is scheduled to take place soon. Another interesting problem highlighted was that on various occasions research scholars were seeking information on a particular performa. The Information Commission also said he is aware of the problems being faced by the officials and that is why various amendments would be
suggested at the next meeting on the Act at the national and international level. |
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Development staff to get revised pay soon
Dehradun, January 22
The employees said though the decision had been taken late, it was a positive step and was the victory of their association. This agreement was signed by the personnel of the association, MDDA vice-president and president. According to this agreement, the Sixth Pay Commission will be got implemented from the administration within three months. Besides, it was also mentioned in the agreement that no action will be taken against the employees who had been on strike and no salary deduction will The employees have also called off their strike for three months. |
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Wife, paramour held for trader’s murder
Nainital, January 22 According to the police, Neha had an affair with Mansoor and the two had plotted to kill Sukhija with the support of Mansoor’s friends with a view to taking control of his property. Sukhija, alias Raju, was a businessman and younger brother of prominent
Congress leader of the area Vijay Sukhija. Ajay (40) had been abducted on the morning of January 13 and was later strangled to death with a clutch wire of
a motorcycle by his kidnappers. In order to make the crime look like a fatal accident, his body was run over by a vehicle and his face disfigured. His body was found in the early hours of the day on the Sampatpur road by a passerby, who informed the police. A bill of a service station was found from his pocket. When the service station was called, it was discovered that the car of the victim had been serviced there and on that basis the body was identified. The police says that as per the plan, the three accused had come to Gadarpur on January 12 in a rented vehicle and had purchased a clutch wire from Kashipur. They had also snatched the mobile phone of a local youth and had gone on to stay in a hotel. Early next morning they reached the house of the victim. The latter was told by his wife that there were guests and had asked him to bring them inside. As soon as Ajay opened the door he was kidnapped. He was strangled inside the moving vehicle. The police had recovered the clutch wire of a motorcycle from the spot where his body had been found. A senior police official at Gadarpur told The Tribune that the remaining two accused in the case are learnt to be in Muzaffarnagar and efforts are on to nab them. The case had become a major challenge for the police and initially it was being treated as a blind murder. It is learnt that this was Neha’s second marriage. Her first marriage to a resident of Ghaziabad had ended in a divorce and it was during her stay at her parental home that she had got involved in a relationship with Mansoor. The two had wanted to get married but her family had forcibly married her off to Sukhija. |
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Eco Man shaves head over demands
Dehradun, January 22
He alleged that the government was doing politics on the name of conservation and was doing nothing to sort the problems relating to the environment.
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State to present glimpse of Kumbh on R-Day
Dehradun, January 22 The local artistes have rehearsed to mesmerise the lanes of Rajpath during the Republic Day’s procession by the soothing enchantment of the Ganga while enthralling the viewers to visualise the real Ganga bank lit with thousands
of lamps. However, the tableau is divided into three sections. The front section would montage the “samudramanthan” (part of the mythological epic) that has mythological significance related to the Kumbh at Haridwar. It symbolises the triumph of goodness over evil. The mid section would give the idea of the large gathering of devotees at Har-Ki-Pauri while the last section of the representation would illustrate the “naga” (undressed saints) at the mela. This is not all, young NCC cadets from different districts have also joined the bandwagon. About 90 cadets from Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital, Roorkee, Kothdwar, Pitthoragarh and Almora have left to chip in the national festival to represent the state. |
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3 more cops get bail
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, January 22 Santosh Kumar Juyal, Nitin Chauhan and Neeraj Yadav were granted bail by justice PC Pant. Constable Ajit Singh was given bail on Wednesday while Sub-Inspectors GD Bhatt, Chandermohan Singh Rawat and Rajesh Bisht were granted bail yesterday. Meanwhile, a special CBI court has summoned the remaining 11 policemen who were chargesheeted by the CBI on February 1. They are to appear before justice Anuradha Garg.
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Rs 91 lakh for rural development in Roorkee
Roorkee, January 22 “To boost the job schemes initiated by the gram panchayats, the Uttarakhand government has allotted funds to all the blocks in the state. Our block (Roorkee) has been allotted Rs 91 lakh by the government,” said Sukhvir Singh, Assistant Development Officer (Panchayat) of the area. In Roorkee block, there are 91 villages under a total of 58 gram panchayats. The process of fund distribution has already started. Meanwhile, Singh added the distribution of ration cards in all villages of the block had been completed. “Those villagers, who have not
procured the cards so far for any reason, will get the same very soon,” said Singh. |
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Labourer commits suicide
Nainital, January 22
He was said to be depressed on account of his economic condition.
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Man-eater leopard shot
Dehradun, January 22 The female leopard was involved in a series of attacks in the Jhanjara area. On January 10, it had attacked 17-year-old Sona, a resident of Bansiwala village. The injured was admitted to the CMI. In a similar attack on January 3, 14-year-old Lokander Kumar was attacked and injured while he was playing. —
TNS |
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Sites earmarked for shopkeepers
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, January 22 Mayor Vinod Chamoli said four places, including an area situated behind Dig Vijay Cinema, near the Gandhi Park, Krishna Palace and Urban Heart, near the PWD parking lot, had been earmarked. The Mayor added that after the physical verification of these sites, whichever place was found viable would be allotted to the shopkeepers. It was earlier agreed to that the shopkeepers would be given land in the 100 m range of the Chakrata road.
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CM remembers Netaji
Dehradun, January 22 Nishank exhorted the masses to follow in the footsteps of the Netaji towards strengthening the country. — TNS |
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Dehradun, January 22
Even on the 12th day members of the Uttaranchal Federation of Ministerial Services Association continued with their strike at the Gandhi Park here today.
The employees are demanding a pay hike. Regional president of the federation TS Pundir said the agreements, meetings everything had been done but now it was just the government that had to make decision until then they would continue their indefinite strike.
Dehradun, January 22
