Dehradun, February 27
Much-talked-about Green Bonus continues to elude Uttarakhand. The Union Budget 2010-11 fails to mention any Green Bonus.

The Centre had some time back announced providing incentive to Himalayan states that have maintained their substantial part of the state as green cover. Union Minister for Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh had been votary of such incentives describing these as necessary for these states, as they were under tremendous economic pressure to do away with forests.

Twelve Himalayan states, that had some months back met at Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla, had sought incentives for forest-predominant hill states of the country in the form of green dividends and green bonus. A concern that was also seconded by the Union Environment Minister himself. But the Budget seems have completely ignored this incentive.

Environmentalist Kalyan Singh Rawat said people of Uttarakhand had always safeguarded the forests for generations. But with a changing developmental scenario, a pressure on forests was certainly being felt, particularly after increasing cases of forestland transfer that fall of development necessities. “Thus, any act meant for promotion and maintenance of forestry should be welcome,” he added.

The very basis behind incentives for Himalayan states has been to encourage these states to maintain their forest cover, which ultimately benefits the entire country being an excellent source of clear water and air to all. The forested catchment areas of the Ganges falling in Uttarakhand proves to be of immense benefit for flood plains of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. No incentive will only lead to growing animosity among forests and the governance.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) too, in its first reactions had said, the Budget did not offer much relief to green causes, except that of energy. “Though the Finance Minister has mentioned the ‘polluter pays’ principle in his speech, the Budget is devoid of a ‘big ticket’ idea to control pollution levels,” pointed out the CSE. “The Ministry of Environment and Forests, in January 2010, had identified 75 critically polluted areas in the country. The Finance Minister has agreed to clean just one - Tirupur,” said CSE Budget analysis.

It also held that similarly an allocation of an additional Rs 250 crore for cleaning the Ganga was not going to solve the problem of contamination of the river waters.

It looks like Himalayan states will have to work much harder in the days to come for ensuring that the judicious Green Bonus finally comes to them.

Mussoorie, February 27
BJP activists led by Mussoorie unit President Roop Singh Kathait staged a protest and burnt the effigy of the Union government here today against hike in petrol and diesel prices and the proposal to cut down subsidy on cooking gas.

The BJP workers raised slogans against Sonia Gandhi and the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre and demanded immediate rollback of oil prices and warned the government against any cut on subsidy on cooking gas used for domestic purpose.

Roop Singh said people were already reeling under the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and foodgrains and the government had added to their misery by increasing the prices of petroleum and diesel.

Among those present on the occasion were senior BJP leaders Amichand Mangla, MM Sharma, Satish Saklani, Vijay Ramola, Kulanand Nautiyal and Anil Godiyal.

Mussoorie, February 27
Reacting to the news that appeared in The Tribune on February 25 titled, “Only God knows who’s in control,” on the plight of the newly constructed canteen outside the Tapkeshwar Temple at Garhi Cant, Mussoorie MLA Jot Singh Gunsola, lambasting the BJP government in state, said, “Nishank was directly responsible for this nonchalant attitude and negligence of the departments” which was evident from the report.

Gunsola further said after being apprised of the situation he paid a personal visit to the site and found to his dismay that it was in a deplorable condition.

Speaking exclusively to The Tribune in Mussoorie, he said the project was sanctioned for beautification and constructing roads around the Tapkeshwar Temple in 2006, but due to the negligence of the Nishank-led BJP government the site had not been transferred to the Tourism Department which had been left to the mercy of unsocial elements.

Gunsola further said this was utter wastage of tax payer’s money. He said this was just not the case at the Tapkeshwar Temple, but all over the state due to a weak Chief Minister. “It seems that Chief Minister Nishank has now realised that the party cannot regain the power in thwe next elections. So the interest towards development works is waning,” added Gunsola.

He also opined that the government had lost control over bureaucrats who did not adhere to the directive of the public representatives for which Nishank was directly responsible. Gunsola also said there was no understanding between the government and various departments which was leading to such situations.

He asserted that a strong letter to both Tourism and Irrigation departments would be written directing them to rectify and complete the task at the Tapkeshwar Temple immediately. He thanked The Tribune for bringing the issue in pubic domain.

Nainital, February 27
In yet another instance that is being interpreted as the state government buckling under pressure of the Sangh Parivar, secretary, Uttarakhand Forest Hospital Trust, Monish Malik has been transferred.

Sources said his transfer was ordered on Friday and he had proceeded on leave. Officials at the Sushila Tewari Hospital Memorial Trust stated that a fax had been received regarding AK Sinha taking over, but it was not clear whether it was in lieu of Malik proceeding on leave or his having been transferred.

The decision has not gone down well with the functionaries of the Trust who said it was nothing but Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank appeasing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) that had a standoff with the Trust hospital authorities earlier this month.

The ABVP had been agitating for Malik’s removal. On February 15 and 16, the OPD services at the hospital had remained disrupted following acts of arson at the hospital by the activists of the ABVP over the death of a patient due to alleged medical negligence.

Services could only be resumed amidst the presence of police personnel deployed by the district administration on being approached by the hospital authorities.

The ABVP, better known as the youth wing of the BJP, had come in for major criticism for once again assuming the role of an “extra-constitutional authority” and inciting violence at a public service institution.

The trouble had started on February 15 afternoon following the death of Baby Joshi, a patient from Garud in Bageshwar. She had been operated upon for a gynaecology complication a week before and her condition had deteriorated continuously.

Her family members and relatives have

alleged that it was a case of medical negligence which led to ABVP activists storming the office of the PA of Malik and resorting to arson.

They had gone to the extent of damaging the computer and throwing the files. A probe into the matter was conducted by Additional Director (Health) Dr SC Tamta.

Nishank during the inauguration of the Swami Ram Cancer Hospital and Research Institute last week is also being attributed to his “appeasing the ABVP”.

In a snub to the Uttarakhand Forest Hospital Trust, he had turned up more than three hours late and had just cut a ribbon and fled without bothering to address the gathering. Instead he had “whiled away three hours at a function at a local college”.

Dehradun, February 27
The first sangat from Punjab arrived to participate in the Jhanda Mela here today. They were welcomed by Mahant Devinder Dass at Kanwali Primary School.

As per tradition, the Mahant travels on foot to welcome the sangat accompanied amid bhajan singing and recitation of verses.

The sangat then proceeded to the Darbar, where they paid obeisance and later distributed prasad among the devotees.

The Holi festival will be celebrated on Poornima and Chaturdashi. Sangats from other parts of the country and abroad will arrive here in the coming days.

About five lakh devotees had participated in the mela last year.

Haridwar, February 27
Apart from maintaining security at the 
ongoing Kumbh mela, the specially designated mela police is also carrying out other related duties with perfection.

Apart from rescuing drowning people to helping senior citizens, the mela police is also re-uniting persons who get lost in the mela crowd. It re-united five-year-old Tubu with his family after he had come with a teenaged neighbour from Delhi to Sarvanand Ghat here on February 2.

Police personnel stationed at the Bhoopatwala police station had found Tubu alone crying. They immediately took him to the police station. They asked him about his family and he named his father as Pramod Mishra.

He was not able to give his residential address and only said he belonged to Delhi and aeroplanes fly near his home there.

He had come from Delhi with Prem, who is a few years senior to him, to make money and then make merry in the holy city.

For the first few weeks, they earned some money by selling coconuts along the Ganga ghats, but later Prem ran away and left Tubu alone.

Working on the clue, the Bhoopatwala police contacted the two police stations located near Palam airport - Palam and Cantt police stations - and enquired about any report registered in there about a missing child.

But there was no such report and the mela police after several failed attempts on the order of Sector Magistrate Bhoopatwala sent Tubu to a child-care home.

But sector police officer Surjeet Singh Pawar sought a last chance from the magistrate and sent the child with Constable Dhruv Raj to Palam airport, Delhi.

There, Dhruv Raj took Tubu to all major roads and markets and to his surprise, the boy identified a road and then guided the police to his home at Holambikalan village.

Seeing Tubu back, his family members and villagers were overjoyed and thanked the policeman umpteen times.

Mela DIG Alok Sharma has lauded the Bhoopatwala police personnel for re-uniting Tubu with his family.

He appreciated the efforts of Pawar, Dhruv Raj, Naveen Juyal and Laxman Bisht for their role in the incident.

Dehradun, February 27
A total of Rs 90 crore had lapsed in earlier years due to the non-constitution of the District Planning Committees (DPC) and this year too, the funds alloted will lapse if the government does not hold good on its announcement of constituting these by March.

Almost on the back foot, the government was forced to make a declaration this month after the Central government stopped allocating funds under the Backward Region Fund, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Rashtriya Swarozgar Yojana.

According to sources, funds to the tune of Rs 45 crore may lapse if the government does not constitute the committees by March.

The role of the constitutionally mandated committees is to prepare draft plans for the districts, to prepare five-year plans and to recommend and submit development plans to the government through the Chairman of the DPC.

Once the DPC is constituted, the grants made under Backward Region Grant Fund (BGRF) for backward regions of the state by the Central government for Tehri, Champawat and Chamoli can be utilised.

The BRGF is designed to redress regional imbalances in development. The fund aims to supplement and converge existing developmental inflows into identified districts so as to bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements that are not being adequately met through existing inflows.

The deliberate delay in the constitution of committees can be attributed to the marginal role that MLAs would henceforth be assigned in preparing outlays or other financial matters.

Dehradun, February 27
The state Congress has termed the allotment of power projects by the BJP state government as the biggest scam and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter during the party office-bearers’ meeting at the Congress Bhawan here today.

State Congress president Yaspal Arya, while addressing the office-bearers, asked them to carry a statewide agitation for the cause in all district headquarters and take the agitation at the grass-root level from village to village.

The Congress alleged that the state government had done a scam of crores in the allotment of power projects and betrayed people of the state. The party discussed rules, regulations and other aspects of allotting any power project.

“We will go from road to road and to the assembly against the allotment of the power projects and make people aware of this scam done by the BJP. Besides, we will continue our protest against the wrong policies of the state government,” said senior Congress leader Surya Kant Dhasmana.

Dehradun, February 27
Encountering problems initially, the Sector Wide Approach Programme (SWAP) underway in Uttarakhand villages is on course after the issue of excluding 2 per cent habitations that do not qualify as rural areas has been sorted out. These have now been excluded from the programme.

The matter came to a head, when during the course of survey for the World Bank-funded programme, it was discovered that at least 800 habitations now no longer fall under rural areas, for which the scheme is being implemented.

“There are at least 2 per cent of habitations that have over the years undergone changes and may no longer qualify as rural areas, these may be around 861 habitations in 31 areas adjoining towns would now be covered under Asian Development Programmes,” said Amit Negi, Additional Secretary, Water and Cooperatives.

Dehradun district alone has maximum number of 457 such habitations. For villages, the drinking water parameters are between 40-70 litres per capita per day lpcd, for those having private water connection it is 70 lpcd. While for those having water connections in towns it is 135 lpcd.

Once the Urban Development Department gives a no objection certificate the demand of water supply too would be raised.

It was never smooth sailing for the programme managers (Peyjal Sansthan and Jal Nigam) the implementing agencies that had to work towards changing mindsets of the people. The World Bank schemes under way in rural areas, envisages handing over the water supply, maintenance and sanitation schemes to the panchayats and imparting training to the villagers.

After signing the Memorandum of Understanding in 2006, the Sector Wide Approach Programme (SWAP) that took off only in 2008 in Uttarakhand, has been commended as a role model by appraisal agencies.

Dehradun, February 27
Increasing cases of baldness among men in their youth may be due to the side effects of testosterone that is otherwise responsible for masculine characteristics in men.

Stating this at a press conference, Dr Pradeep Kumar Sethi of the AIIMS said today that despite baldness setting in early, hair restoration through medical and surgical efforts was an alternative that could help restore hair-loss.

“Medical and surgical treatments not only help in getting back 50 per cent hair growth, but also help in maintaining the remaining,” said Dr Sethi.

He was speaking at the inauguration of National Skin Clinic here today.

Regular intake of allopathic medicines can help in getting back hair, while the transplant sessions can be helpful in extreme cases.