Nainital, March 13
The ongoing volatile situation in Bareilly has affected life in Kumaon in the form of inconvenience being faced by the people on various accounts. To begin with, small-time businessmen, who get their wholesale items from Bareilly to sell these in retail at places like Haldwani and other townships, have been hit.

Most edible items like wheat flour and rice and even garments are procured by various shopkeepers from Bareilly. With the trouble starting there about 12 days back, the traders here are having a tough time procuring items for sale as no transporter is willing to go there.

Dharmendra, a newspaper and magazine vendor in Nainital, told The Tribune, “Publications coming via Bareilly are getting delayed and readers are forced to return empty handed.”

Traders in Haldwani mandi have been complaining that they were not getting commodities like onions, bananas and grapes which come from Maharashtra along with vegetables that come from Badayun and Bareilly.

Even persons involved in the mining of sand and stone are facing a tough time as they are avoiding going to Bareilly. The city in Uttar Pradesh has a big demand for these items.

Public transport services are also incurring losses as there are no passengers in the trains and buses being plied to Bareilly on account of the curfew there.

Meanwhile, the authorities entrusted with the maintenance of law and order have taken a strong note of the demonstration carried out by various Hindutva organisations in Haldwani against the release of Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan in Bareilly.

The demonstration was conducted without any prior intimation or permission and could have led to the flaring up of the situation in Haldwani.

Police authorities have assured that elements trying to whip up communal sentiments would be dealt with strictly. There is a constant vigil on the situation and intelligence agencies have been asked to be on alert.

Dehradun, March 13
Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) held a day-long workshop entitled “Dispute Resolution Scenario in Telecom and Broadcasting Sectors” here today.

Chief guest Chief Justice of the High Court Jagdish Singh Khehar dwelt at length on the importance of TDSAT. He said awareness held much importance while ensuring rights to consumers getting services from telecom and broadcasting sectors.

Supreme Court Judge Justice Sirpurkar said the real communication revolution would dawn on the country when people living in remote border areas would benefit from telecom services as provided to urban areas.

“Best of telecom services should reach far-off areas of the state like Badrinath and Uttarakashi districts,” Justice SB Sinha, Chairperson, TDSAT, said, adding that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by towers was affecting even avian fauna.

Earlier, GD Gaiha, member, TDSAT, said such a workshop played an important role towards sensitisation of the consumers linked to telecom and broadcasting sectors. Manjul Bajpai, president, Telecom Lawyers Association, presided over the first business session with Advocate Arun Kathplia, SC Khanna, TR Dua and Brig KG Behl among other speakers. Senior Advocate Maninder Singh presided over the second business session.

Mussoorie, March 13
False claims made by the Nagar Palika that a state-of-the-art computerised barrier will be installed at the Mall Road have come undone as Palika employees are forced to operate it manually due to a recurring fault in the system causing much inconvenience to commuters here.

The Nagar Palika had announced with much fanfare that computerised barriers at the Mall Road would increase the revenue, along with speedy vehicular movement, but on the contrary the barriers have become a bane for residents and tourists alike. Commuters have to wait for several hours due to traffic jams occurring at barrier sites. Tourist Ranjit Singh from Jalandhar said after several hours of hard drive one had to wait on the Mall Road due to faulty barriers. Raman Sharma from Delhi was of the view that the government should investigate on the use of substandard equipment during its installation.

Palika officials were of the view that as the whole setup was new, some problems were bound to happen and they were rectifying the fault.

Nagar Palika president OP Uniyal had made tall announcements in November last year and the project was initiated by him in a joint venture under public-private partnership mode in November. It was also said the company involved would beautify the landscape of the whole area on its own cost. But nothing had been done so far. Residents have started raising serious questions over the deal between Palika and the said company.

Pitthoragarh, March 13
After the verification of Indian citizens from other districts of India living in Pitthoragarh district last year, the district police has now taken up the task of verifying antecedents of all Nepali citizens living here.

Pitthoragarh Superintendent of Police Puran Singh Rawat said: “According to our six-point agenda on border security, we have taken up the task to verify all Nepali citizens living permanently or temporarily in this district .The Nepali citizens will have to registered themselves with the police of the respective police stations and will have to submit their photographs and addresses also,” said the SP.

According to the Pitthoragarh police, the persons from Nepal enter the district from five main bridges on the Kali river flowing along Indo-Nepal border and there are more than 18 other illegal entry points from where they can sneak into the Indian territory through inflated tubes or ropes tied over the river. “We are specially focusing on these illegal entry points and towns and villages adjoining the border and to know if Nepali citizens are transporting frequently from there,” said the SP.

According to the information available with Pitthoragarh police, nearly 5,000 Nepali citizens are living in Pitthoragarh district but their number is gradually coming down as new projects have been started in Nepal and most of the young job-seeker are given employment in those projects. “Even the annual turn up of Nepali citizens during winter to look for jobs in India has started coming down gradually after the Nepal government started developmental activities there,” said Rawat.

Dehradun, March 13
Calling policies of the state BJP government anti-people, members of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Yuva Congress staged a dharna outside the Gandhi Park here today.

The party members alleged that the government was not doing anything for the uplift of the Dalits. They alleged that the procedure of making caste certificate was very tough and the community was facing several problems in this regard. The Yuva Congress demanded that the procedure of making caste certificate be made easy otherwise it would come on roads to launch a massive agitation against the BJP government in future.

Party spokesman Vinod alleged that the policies of the BJP were anti-Dalit. There was no employment for the Dalits and no efforts were being made for their development.

Dehradun, March 13
Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Andolankari Manch criticised respective state governments for ignoring hopes and aspirations of statehood agitators at a two-day state convention held in the auditorium of the Municipal Corporation here today.

People from across the state attended the convention in large numbers. Several members of the manch traced the stories of agitators in the formation of the state.

The members also lamented that no government had done anything to recognise the statehood agitators. The government didn’t have any concrete plan for the benefit of the statehood agitators, they alleged.

Harish Rawat, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Vinod Chamoli, Mayor, Narayan Singh Jantwal, president of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, Samar Bhandari, state secretary of the Communist Party of India, family members of the statehood agitators who lost their lives and a large number of those who actually fought for the separate hill state were present.

Rawat accepted that the hopes and aspirations of the statehood agitators had not been met and promised to do so in future.

Dehradun, March 13
A two-day state-level orientation and proposal development workshop for ARSH (UDAAN) was inaugurated by Dr AP Mamgai (Director, National Programme), GC Bonthiyal (CMOD Dun), Dr Tolia (Dy CMO), Dr Bharti Dangwal (NGO coordinator) and representatives of Future Group were present.

The programme was conducted by Dr Geeta Khanna, secretary, Samarpan,nodal agency for ARSH (UDAAN) in Uttarakhand. It involves training and sensitising adolescent population in four blocks of Dehradun district through partner NGOs.

The components cover adolescent health and sexuality issues and also lays a lot of importance on psycho-social well-being and life skill development of adolescents. The ARSH (UDAAN) is a very prestigious part of the National Rural Health Mission and Uttarakhand is one of the few states where it has been implemented with great success.

The proposal will be followed by training and replicating the chain at block levels.

Dehradun, March 13
Tensed with family affairs, a couple in their late 
20s took poison in front of their house at Badowala here today.

They were spotted by some people who called up108 that took them to a government hospital in Premnagar. Their condition is said to be stable now.

The couple has been identified as Rajender (28) and Mala (25). They have two minor children.

According to the police, Rajender has four brothers in the family and they often used to fight among themselves.

The police said today the couple had a heated argument with their parents who in a fit of rage asked them to leave the house. The couple went out of the house and reportedly took rat poison.