Nainital, March 21
In a revelation that comes as a jolt, the Jaspur police has arrested three brothers for getting their mother eliminated through a hired killer. The reason for her elimination was that she had refused to distribute Rs 24 lakh that her husband Net Ram had left as a bank deposit before his demise a fortnight back.

Just 14 days after the death of her husband, 87-year-old Bhagwan Devi was gunned down by an assailant in Nizamgarh village of Jaspur on Friday as she sat on a cot in the courtyard of her house. The assailant had shot her with a countrymade pistol and fled on a motorcycle.

Hearing the sound of a gun shot, neighbours rushed to the spot and found the old woman lying in a pool of blood.

Working on a hunch that it was a result of a property dispute, the police interrogated her three sons Bhikam Singh, Sher Singh and Bhukan Singh who confessed their crime.

The three accused told the police that they had asked their mother to distribute the Rs 24 lakh left by their father after the ritual falling on the 13th day of his demise. When the woman refused to do so, they hired a killer from Sitarampur Swar in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, for Rs 10,000 to eliminate her.

According to the police, the three accused have been sent to the judicial custody while the effort is on to nab the hired killer.

Dehradun, March 21
In a meeting called between Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli and Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) officials to discuss the widening of the Chakrata Road, it was decided to speed up the process of relocating 123 shopkeepers on both sides of the road.

The Mayor, who has already taken the first round of the meeting with shopkeepers, will soon hold another one.

The sites chosen to replace them are on the Rajpur Road, near Gandhi Park, near PWD Guest House, Raja Manda House and two more sites near and behind Krishna Talkies.

The Mayor said except one shopkeeper, who had taken land on freehold, the rest were occupying Nazool land. He said, “The ones who are on Nazool land have not even paid for renewal, which is mandatory after every 30 years. In any case, the lease of Nazool land is also expiring in 2012. After that they will lose control over the property. At the moment, they are illegal occupants of the land”.

He said the shopkeepers had been given much better property in lieu of the existing ones. “The land near the Rajpur Road and the PWD is much costlier and of better value. So they are given better option to choose from”.

In the second meeting, he is sure that he will be able to clear the road block with the shopkeepers. Since the Chief Minister is keen on getting this project done in the current year, he does not see insurmountable difficulty on the way.

The MDDA has hired old consultants who were linked to the project before it was left hanging midway.

The consultants gave the presentation of the existing situation and the future scenario after the shops would be displaced.

Besides the Mayor, Mukhya Nagar Adhikari NK Joshi, Vice-Chancellor RK Sudhanshu, town planners, consultants and members of the Planning Implement Unit participated in the meeting.

Dehradun, March 21
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP Bhagat Singh Koshiyari today questioned the Central government’s intentions vis-à-vis Women’s Reservation Bill.Koshiyari said the very fact that the government brought the Women’s Reservation Bill into the Rajya Sabha where it did not enjoy a majority doubts the Congress party’s true intentions.

“The Congress wanted to put the BJP on a back foot over the issue by bringing the Bill into the Rajya Sabha,” he said adding that the Centre now wants to come up with the Bill in the Lok Sabha with amendments. He pointed out that the BJP had always favoured implementation of the Bill in toto.

He also accused the Centre of continuously neglecting Uttarakhand. He said the state Budget from the Centre had been reduced despite the state excelling in performance parameters.

On the ongoing agitation of saints to oppose power projects in the Bhagirathi river, Koshiyari said he favoured a consensual approach on the subject. He said the sentiments linked to Bhagrathi must be respected.

When asked whether he held the Opposition to the special package expressed by the Akali Dal as the major reason behind the delay in extension of the special package, Koshiyari said it was the Centre’s responsibility to do justice with Uttarakhand and opposition by any party was irrelevant.

On inflation, the former Chief Minister accused the Congress of doing little to check the price rise. He said even as there had been some check on inflation, it only revealed that the government, if it sincerely wished, could have checked the inflation long back.

Senior BJP leaders Lakhi Ram Joshi, Naresh Bansal and other senior BJP functionaries were present on the occasion. 

Dehradun, March 21
The brouhaha which arose over land grabbing at Brahmawala by senior party leaders of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) in September, last year, culminated in the expulsion of five members who allegedly had become an eyesore for senior leaders for daring to thwart their plans to further encroach on the land and complain against their gross act at the party podium.

They were also considered responsible for making poor people, who were used as pawns to house on the encroached land, complain to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, when each one was asked to shell out Rs 15,000 to the Mayor as bribe.

These five members are Sanjay Chettri, Rameshwari Chauhan and Guddi Chaudhary, Sufi Khalik Ahmad and Diwakar Bhatt. However, Ahmad remained absent due to the death of a close relative and Diwakar Bhatt for some unknown reason. The other three reached the party headquarters to seek a written notice and clarification for the sudden expulsion, when a meeting of city Cabinet was going on to discuss the issue.

Bahadur Singh Rawat, city President, UKD, asked them to come on Monday to take the expulsion letter, which, according to him, had been decided by the Central command of the party.

Birender Singh Bisht, acting city President, said the five members had been expelled for grabbing land at Brahmwala.

The entire imbroglio has emanated from the DMC’s anti-encroachment drive at Brahmwala where it demolished the land encroached by some 150 slum dwellers in September, last year.

The name of Promila Rawat, UKD’s President of women wing, and Manish Kumar, city secretary, emerged as the main culprits in land grabbing.

Sanjay Chettri, who had been expelled earlier also, said, “Promila and Manish hold us responsible for thwarting their gameplan to encroach land at Brahmawala. Promila made 150 people occupy land at the site and asked each one of them to give Rs 15,000 to the Mayor to remain trouble free for the illegal act”.

“The poor people refused to give money and 75 of them gave a memorandum to the Chief Minister complaining against both of them on February 5. We three members also registered our complaint, first oral and then written in the office, along with a photocopy of the memorandum, when Promila started blaming us for the act in reverse. We three live in the same locality and people come complaining to us. So we had to make matter clear to party leaders to keep our image clean among our voters”.

Chettri said when the city President pointed a finger at him, he made him quiet for his own involvement in encroaching land in the area. He said, “Not only he, but other UKD leaders Promila, Birender Singh Bisht and Shailash Guleri too have their shares of land in the same area”.

Not only at Brahmwala, but senior leader Ved Uniyal, whose younger brother Omi Uniyal is District President of the UKD, has also been arraigned by the expelled member Kshetri for encroaching on 20-bigha land near Touch Wood School. He said, “I have asked former President BD Raturi to investigate the case of Ved Uniyal with Central leader Shivanand Chamoli in the surrounding of 0.5 bigha land which he purchased near the school and where now they have started cutting plots”. It is one of the reasons that Uniyal too wants to get rid of him.

The members are not ready to cow down by the dictate of the party and have decided to strike back full on.

Pitthoragarh, March 21
Mukut Mithi, former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Chairman of the North-East MPs’ Forum, said here today that the initiative taken by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, that it would help make people from the North-East studying and working in other parts of India feel comfortable, was praiseworthy.

“In our last meeting of MPs from the North-East in Gangtok, we discussed these things and expressed hope that the process would continue till people from the North-East felt a part of the national mainstream,” said Mithi.

He also hoped that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, that had been imposed in some parts of the North-East, would be repealed after the political process going on there bore fruits.

“I am fully hopeful that the time will soon come when owing to conducive atmosphere this Act will be repealed. In Nagaland, the situation is improving and the same thing will be followed in other north-eastern states as well,” he hoped.

Asked what psychological effect people of Arunachal Pradesh felt when the Chinese lay claim over the territory repeatedly, Mithi said each time the Chinese did that, people of the state asserted to be 100 per cent Indian. “Even the Chinese understand this that people of Arunachal Pradesh could neither be influenced in the past by them nor in future can they be influenced by this malicious propaganda,” said Mithi.

Mussoorie, March 21
“The BJP-led state government is confused and in a state of disarray”. This was stated by Tehri Lok Sabha MP Vijay Bahuguna on his visit to Thatyur, 60 km from Mussoorie. He was here to inaugurate a 1,200-m road to Pabra village in Jaunpur block.Addressing a large gathering, Bahuguna lambasted the government and said this BJP government in the state was confused and unable to understand the basic needs and problems faced by masses in the state. 

He said the amount the Centre had allocated for Uttarakhand was by far the most it had ever done so far.

The Tiwari government got Rs 4,000 crore from the Centre, but this government had received more than Rs 5,600 crore that was more than previous years. The state government should have addressed the major problem faced by the state of drinking water and power, but had failed in it miserably. Villages of the hill state were reeling under deep water crisis, he added.

Bahuguna further said due to the irrigation and drinking water problem, people would be forced to leave for better pastures, thus increasing migration against the promise of the state government manifesto which stated that it would stop migration at any cost. Bahuguna said development of the city did not mean development of the state.

He criticised the government for stalling the major irrigation and drinking water projects in the state citing lack of funds. On the contrary, the Centre had provided ample funds under various national schemes in the state.

Bahuguna also said he would be meeting the Chief Minister and if he consented, the finance for such projects could be sought from the Centre where he would help.

He was of the view that by halting of various power, irrigation and drinking water projects, the development of the state would stop and industries would shift their units from here to other states leading to loss of employment and revenue.

Speaking on the OBC issue for the Rawanlta-Jaunpur community, Bahuguna said it was the Tiwari government that provided reservation under the OBC to the community in the state and after repeated requests to the BJP-led state government to send the proposal to the Centre they had failed and were dilly-dallying with it to the extent that the MLA had to sit in front of the Vidhan Sabha to raise this issue.

Bahuguna stated that if the BJP government in the state felt that development could be done only by Central funds, it should convert the state into a union territory.

He challenged the state government to send a request to the Centre on CBI investigation in the scam related to power projects and he would support it.

Organisation Secretary Manmohan Singh Mall welcomed Vijay Bahuguna and criticised the state government, especially Dhanolty MLA Khajan Das, for not taking interest due to the announcement of the general seat here in the next elections.

Bahuguna was also presented with a momento and shawl on the occasion by villagers of Pabra.

Nainital, March 21
Justice PC Pant of the Uttarakhand High Court has called for doing away with age-old customs and traditions that do not serve any purpose in modern society and, in fact, are turning out to be detrimental.

Releasing a book, “Apni Adalat: Ek Sarthak Hastakshep Aur Vikalp”, here this afternoon, Justice Pant said in today’s world men and women were on an equal footing and customs like dowry needed to be done away with.

He lauded the role being played by institutions like Apni Adalats being run by the Mahila Samakhya programme and pointed out that such adalats were going a long way in educating, giving moral support and making women in remote areas aware of their rights. “Even today women are being discriminated against, particularly in rural areas. The courts have their limitations as these can only take up matters that come before us. Such institutions are able to reach to the people who are poor and are unable to come before us,” he said.

Justice Pant pointed out that the success of Apni Adalats could be gauged by the fact that the people were scared to ill-treat women in their households. “The biggest advantages of Apni Adalats are that there is no cost of lawyer involved and justice is available to the victim at doorstep.” When a matter is pursued in the courts, the enmity between two parties increases as very often lawyers present blown-up versions. At the same time he advised the functionaries of Apni Adalats to always take into confidence and listen with patience to the accused parties as that would help in both parties agreeing to abide by the decision of Apni Adalats which otherwise was not binding.

Earlier, senior lawyer and women rights activist Pushpa Joshi talked about legal rights of women and very candidly said very often the acts pertaining to dowry and Dalit rights were being misused. She underlined the need to understand why a social ill like dowry had made inroads into the hill society. Referring to a large number of matrimonial disputes that come not only before Apni Adalats but also the civil courts, she called for an amendment to the existing law to ensure that matrimonial disputes were sorted out within six months. One of the senior most functionaries of the Mahila Samakhya programme in the state Geeta Gairola called for making Apni Adalats a part of the Panchayati Raj. She said the process began with the registration of a complaint by a victim which was followed by an attempt to call both parties before an Apni Adalat that was held once a month and members of the adalat tried to resolve the matter by mutual consent. If the accused party did not turn up, the members of the adalat went to the accused party’s house and tried to sort out the matter. It was ensured that the matter was resolved in the presence of both parties. If the dispute still remained unresolved, the parties were then suggested to approach the courts.

A large number of women who have got justice through Apni Adalats related their experiences at the event. Such adalats have been functioning in Dhari and Ramgarh blocks of Nainital for the past eight years and hundreds of cases have been resolved through them. A team of 15 women in each block functions as Apni Adalat.

Pitthoragarh, March 21
The announcement by the state government to construct a base hospital at Pitthoragarh in the recent budget has again ignited politics on the issue between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in the district.

“We have approved token money for this hospital, which will be other than the present hospital in Pitthoragarh. Construction work will start soon,” said Prakash Pant, Uttarakhand Parliamentary Affairs Minister, who is a legislator from Pitthoragarh. But the Pitthoragarh District Congress Committee has termed the announcement as a political gimmick claiming that the previous Congress on March 31, 2006, had not only notified the construction of base hospital in Pitthoragarh, but also sanctioned 14 temporary posts of staff, besides Rs 20,11,000 for their salary expenditure. Mathura Dutt Joshi, spokesperson of the Congress committee, claimed that people had opposed the merger of two hospitals to create a base hospital and the then government had agreed and even issued an order about separation of the base hospital. “The Congress government had also taken approval from the Finance Department, whereas the BJP government after four years is trying to cheat the people by announcing it in the budget without any financial approval,” said Joshi.

But over this political tussle to claim credit for the base hospital between two main political parties, the question of land, on which this hospital is to be constructed, is still unsolved. Pant has already said this hospital will be constructed at Chandak in the land which has been left by leprosy mission, which has completed its 100-year-old mission to eradicate the leprosy from the district. “But the entire 64-acre land of leprosy mission is still owned by the mission. The state government has taken 20 acres from the mission to construct a sub-station for the Power Grid Corporation of India and the rest of the land belongs to the mission,” said Subhash Singh, an advocate for the leprosy mission. Singh said due to some legal wrangle Uttarakhand government could not acquire this land.

“The high court has given a stay on a petition to rectify one clerical mistake in the land document,” added Singh. After the announcement of base hospital in the budget, the BJP workers in the district are jubilant and want to take credit. But there are other groups who are also claiming that the hospital was sanctioned following their agitation. “All political parties and leaders are claiming credit for this announcement but no one has the answer to the question that where this base hospital would be constructed,” said Mohan Singh Rawat, a social worker and Gandhian from the town.

Nainital, March 21
The Uttarakhand Bar Council has decided to hike the monetary benefits given to the next of kin of an advocate in the event of his death by Rs 1 lakh. The present compensation amount stands at Rs 50,000, which has been increased to Rs 1.5 lakh. This decision was taken at a meeting of the council here yesterday.

Talking to The Tribune, Chairperson of the council Razia Beig said, “This is the most important decision taken in the meeting and expected to go a long way in providing social security to the family members of the deceased”.

The decision would be implemented from April 1 and all members of the council would be entitled for it.

Toeing the line of the Bar Council of India (BCI), the council has also come out against the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research Bill and Foreign Education Provider Bill.

The BCI has reportedly contended that the National Commission for Higher Education and Research Bill proposes to take away the BCI’s powers in legal education.

A resolution passed by the BCI has said the Bill will directly affect the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961, which has entrusted the BCI with laying down the standards of legal education to be observed by universities and the inspection of the same for that purpose.

Beig said going by the instructions of the BCI, the members of the council would wear red bands on their arms as a mark of protest on Monday.

Dehradun, March 21
On the occasion of the reunion celebration of the Garhwal Rifles Ex-servicemen Association, Dehradun, ex-servicemen launched their fortnight tabloid, Sainik Khabardar, at the Cantt Road here today. Around 400 ex-servicemen participated at the meeting.

The association also paid tributes to the martyrs. They discussed the problems related to the ex-servicemen and sought assistance by way of jobs to unemployed retired sainiks as per the norms of Uttarakhand Purvasainik Nigam Limited. While addressing the gathering, many senior retired officers invited more and more Garhwali sainiks to get associated with the wing.

Brig Jagmohan Rawat was the chief guest at the event. He also launched the tabloid during the ceremony. He congratulated the people gathered at the function and assured assistance to the affected.

The dignitaries present at the reunion were chief patron Major-Gen SPS Kanwar (retd), patron Brig SS Patwal (retd), president of the association Col SM Gosai (retd), vice-presidents Capt MS Bisht (retd) and Capt VS Kunwar (retd), treasurer Capt LS Rana (retd), general secretary Sub Major VS Gorla (retd), secretary Capt Sumer Singh Negi (retd), coordinator Capt Virender Singh Negi (retd) and many others.