Nainital, February 11
Hitting out at the state government for allegedly misleading people of Uttarakhand, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has demanded a white paper on the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Haridwar.

State secretary of the CPI Samar Bhandari, who was on a tour to Kumaon, while talking to The Tribune, said: “We want the people of the state to know the truth and hence we demand that the BJP government led by Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank should come out with a white paper on the Kumbh. Large sums of money were sanctioned for organising the Kumbh and the government was supposed to construct facilities in Haridwar that were permanent in nature. But, the realities on the ground prove totally otherwise”.

He said the government was busy squandering money on its own publicity for jobs that existed nowhere on the ground. “If one looks at the publicity drive that has been undertaken by the Chief Minister, one will be compelled to accept that Uttarakhand has eventually got a ‘chamatkari’ Chief Minister who has turned things around in the span of a mere few months. The drive also gives an impression that his predecessor BC Khanduri was not performing at all,” said Bhandari.

The CPI leader questioned the manner in which the state government was advertising its targets for the Mission 2020 that was being propagated across the state. “The targets are being conveyed as achievements by the government and the ruling party,” he said.

The CPI had undertaken a Jan Sangharsh Abhiyan over the past 11 days during which the party leadership had travelled across the state to evaluate the tall claims being made by the government on the issue of development.

“The things on ground are just the opposite of what is being claimed. In certain parts of Garhwal, we saw villagers continue to queue up for tankers to get potable water and the projects, which the government claims to be executed, lie in shambles. The pipelines that were laid down stand damaged. Similarly, there are instances pertaining to the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) where people have just got work for six to 13 days only,” he claimed.

Dehradun, February 11
In a major boost to medium and small-scale industries, the state government has decided to extend purchase preferences to homegrown small industries. This will put the products of these industries in a competitive advantage over others manufactured outside the state.

Announcing this at the Industries Association of Uttarakhand’s Bank Industry Interface here, Principal Secretary (Finance) Alok Jain said the purchase preferences to micro, small and medium enterprises of Uttarakhand would pit them in better position vis-à-vis industries from outside the state. He said the small-scale industries had been pleading for such a preference for quite some time and held that announcement would follow a government order shortly.

These smaller industries in Uttarakhand have been for quite some time demanding a preference purchase for its products. Interestingly, many of the state government departments have been so far purchasing products manufactured from industries outside the state due to the overall competitive bidding in practise. But with introduction of purchase preference, these indigenous micro, small and medium enterprises would be now get preference for such purchases.

Describing small industries as integral part of economy, Jain said while 40 per cent to 50 per cent of manufacturing output in the state came from the small industries, he too understood their hardships. He, however, reiterated the department’s commitment towards protection of the small-scale industries in the state highlighting that lower investment and higher output stood as strength for such industrial set ups.

He also pointed out that Uttarakhand was in for quality investment, thus had introduced a system of finance appraisal for all investments above Rs 5 crore in the state. He said the government strongly believed in investing productivity and 50 per cent of the budget and 70 per cent of plan had to go to capital investment. Jain said other linked infrastructure like roads and power were also getting much emphasis in the state.

The representatives from these small industries also took advantage of this platform to air their grievances particularly linked to loan disbursal on part of banks.

Senor vice-president of the association Rajeev Agarwal accused banks of shying away from the small and medium industries. He alleged that banks kept a tendency of declining loans to these industries and took these as the risk-prone areas. “They forgot that it was basically the medium and small-scale industries which helped the country survive in recession,” Agarwal pointed out. He added that while Kisan Credit Cards were a resounding success, similar concept of Laghu Udhyami Credit Card had failed to make inroads in to the industry.

President of the association Pankaj Gupta, in particular, raised the issue of 90 loan applications of the small industries lying pending with the banks at Pauri Garhwal district and sought its immediate redressal.

Additional Director (Industries) SC Nautiyal admitted that low equity, absence of marketing tie up and division of funds were some of the factors citied by the banks as reasons that forced them to take to safe distance with the small and medium industries.

General Manager the Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai, Vikram Bajwa argued that the RBI had come up with master circulars that would bring to an end the confusion linked to series of circulars issued earlier regarding the small-scale industries.

Dehradun, February 11
Uttatakhand Drug Controller DD Upreti in his inaugural speech called upon the pharma industry to implement the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended good manufacturing practices (GMP) in formulation units to make a mark globally.

He was speaking yesterday at a workshop on Opportunities and Procedures of Pharma Exports, where he was the chief guest.

Additional Director of Industries SC Nautiyal called upon the Pharma SMES to develop a common facility centre (CFC).

Additional Regional Director, PHARMEXCIL, AK Sinha said there was a good demand of exporting pharma products for the firms that followed the global regulations.

President of the Drug Manufactures Association Pramod Kalani said the manufacturing units in Uttarakhand were committed to achieve the target of attracting investment to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore in the next few years.

“Our aim is to make Dehradun a leading pharmaceutical cluster so that it gains fame globally,” said Kalani.

It may be mentioned that a WHO GMP recommended certification is essential for exporting formulations abroad. So far none of the units here has been able to do so.

Delegates of the pharma industry comprising DMA vice-president Col Sanjay Kapur, DMA general secretary Sanjay Sikaria and cluster manager VB Rajendra Prasad were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, February 11
At the onset of Spring season, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Seema Dwar organised a colourful fair, Basant Mela, to celebrate a goodwill gesture to mankind and pay tribute to the nature. The fair will continue till February 14. Cultural programmes, stalls, exhibitions and amusement parks from different parts of the country were brought together in the form of a diversified culture.

Former Director-General of Police and former Adviser to Governor of Punjab IPS KL Watts (retd) was the chief guest on the occasion who inaugurated the ceremony. He appreciated the initiative of the ITBP to celebrate such an occasion. He also congratulated the ITBP as their Sector Headquarters camp was inaugurated in 1978 on the day of Basant Panchami.

IG (Northern Frontier), ITBP, MC Bhatt and DIG (Dehradun) IPS Sanjay Singhal, along with other VIPs, were present at the occasion.

Dehradun, February 11
The rift between leaders and lower-level employees of the Uttaranchal Federation of Ministerial Services Association has surfaced as subordinates have expressed reservation about the agreement reached with the state government by holding a protest here today. These disgruntled employees continued to hold their dharna at the Gandhi Park here today demanding higher remuneration.

These employees are not content with the negotiations held between the leaders of the association and the state administration. After a month-long strike, the employees of the Ministerial Services in Uttarakhand called off their strike following acceptance of most of their demands, including better pay scales on Wednesday night.

The altercation between the striking employees of 45 departments in Uttarakhand and the government concluded late night on Wednesday after prolonged discussions over their demands with Principal Secretary Shatrughan Singh. The administration will constitute a high-level committee to look into the main demand of converting the Rs 4,000-7,000 pay scale into Rs 5,000-8,000.

It is pertinent to mention that after getting benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission, the Ministerial Services employees were on an indefinite strike for the past one month demanding higher pay scales. The state government warned the strikers to retreat to their work or face legal action under ESMA.

Dehradun, February 11
Kashi Singh Airy, a former president of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), today announced his resignation from the Chairmanship of HILTRON, a state government undertaking, with the intention to contest the election for the post of party president scheduled to be held soon.

Addressing mediapersons, Airy said he had already submitted his resignation from HILTRON, but it hadn’t yet been accepted by the state government. He hoped that he would work for the party in near future.

He added, “It’s due to the political pressure that I have to leave the office of profit to fulfill the challenge of working for the party”.

He also asserted that HILTRON was not in a good state to sustain its entity any more. However, he said despite a lot of problems, HILTRON under his leadership managed to put up equipment at the Urja Park here that runs on solar energy creating less pollution.

Dehradun, February 11
The annual cultural fest, Srijan 2010, of the GRD Institute of Management and Technology, was a fun-filled occasion that concluded today.

The co-curricular activities commenced on February 8 and comprised rangoli, singing, dancing, debate, mehandi, face painting, arm wrestling and poster-making competitions. Besides, students represented montages related to science projects, namely models of PC-based Oscilloscope, security system and non-electric refrigerator.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harbans Kapoor was the chief guest on the occasion who inaugurated the closing ceremony.

Dehradun, February 11
The Dehradun police today seized counterfeit currency totalling over Rs 61,000 from three natives of Bihar at railway station here.

According to the police, it received the information in the morning that three suspected persons were spotted at the railway station following which a team under circle officer and station house officer of the Kotwali police station in plain clothes reached there.

The police nabbed the three at the station and seized Rs 61,500 in counterfeit notes from their possession. The police also seized 15 notes of Rs 1,000, 20 of 500 and 10,000 of other denominations in genuine currency that were procured from Ramesh Ram in the exchange of counterfeit notes.

From Imamul Haq the police recovered eight notes of 1,000, 15 notes of 500 and 2,000 of other denominations in real currency. Nazir Alam had three notes of 1,000 and 12 of 500 denominations.

Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abhinav Kumar said the currency was brought to the country from Nepal. Given the appearance of the trio, no way it seemed that they were the manufacturer. They only acted as a courier. However, the investigative agencies would get to the details of the illegal practice, added the SSP.

Dehradun, February 11
The lives of shoppers were at risk when a transformer was being changed at Paltan Bazaar here yesterday. The faulty transformer was being changed by the Electricity Department near the Clock Tower adjacent to the Punjab National Bank ATM. The heavy transformer was craned up with so many passersby underneath the gadget that could have injured many fatally. The incident projects the callous attitude of the department putting the lives of several in danger. Not only this, the truck with transformer repairing equipment and the crane had caused hindrance for the common public creating a traffic snarl in the market place.

“I’ve my tuition class is from 3 pm, but I could not find my way out of this traffic. My school got over at 2, but I am still stuck in the traffic jam here,” said Shushant Gupta, student of CNI Boys Inter College.

Another shopper in the market said such a dangerous activity here could cause fatal injury to passersby, as the department took no safety measures while performing such jobs.

DGM of the Power Corporation SK Jain said, “We always try to barricade the area where such an activity takes place. But if such a negligence has occurred then it’s the wisdom of the passersby not to cross through such a precarious site”.