Dehradun, March 31
The day the special industrial package for Uttarakhand state ended, there came another shocker for the state. There were reports that a three-member group of ministers, formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to look into the issue of building hydro-electric projects on the Bhagirathi upstream of Uttarkashi has recommended shelving of the Bhairon Ghati and Pala Maneri projects proposed to be built by the state government following strong objections from environmentalists, Hindu saints and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Dr Manmohan Singh, who heads the Ganga River Basin Authority, has formed a high-powered committee, headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, following a spate of protests by environmentalists, led by Prof GD Agarwal, a retired IIT, Kanpur, teacher and right wing Hindu saints. Even the Nainital High Court has asked the authority to take a decision on the issue.

Interestingly, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had to shelve the construction of the 381 MW Bhaironghati and 480 MW Pala-Maneri hydro-electric projects following start of a fast unto death by Professor Agarwal in June 2008 at Uttarkashi. There was a lot of pressure from the RSS and the VHP on the state government and the then Chief Minister BC Khanduri reluctantly shelved the projects.

Agarwal demanded that the Bhagirathi should flow uninterrupted from Gaumukh, the origin of the river, up to Uttarkashi downstream and no power projects should be constructed on the stretch. He also demanded stoppage of the 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project built by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) upstream of Uttarkashi. It has been learnt that the committee even recommended that the Lohari Nagpala project on which the Union government had already spent Rs 600 crore would also be shut down.

The decision would be a big setback to the Uttarakhand state government that wanted to turn the state into a power state. According to rough estimates, the state has a potential to produce 20,000 MW of power on its rivers, but in the past more than nine years since the state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh except for Maneri Bhali phase-II having 302 MW of generation, no new project could be built by the state government. Tehri and Vishnu Prayag projects were commissioned, but the state gets its share of 12 per cent power from these projects only. Already the state has been reeling under a severe power crisis with the entire state experiencing official power cuts ranging from three to five hours. The Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam did try to compensate by taking over the Lakhwar Vyasi project on river Yamuna from the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) which was initially given the task of making a detailed project report of the project. But since then not much progress has been made on the project.

Interestingly, while the state BJP government would be hit hard by the decision to shelve its two mega projects, it cannot even protest, since the demand for the same was raised by RSS and VHP leaders alleging that projects on the Ganga would ultimately lead to the death of the river that is considered a mother by millions of Hindus. Yogendra Prasad, Chairman of the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam, who also is adviser of the state government, said a final decision had not yet been arrived and the Ganga River Basin Authority would take a final decision on these reported recommendations of the group of ministers.

Nainital, March 31
With the onset of summer, several areas of Nainital district have started facing water scarcity. Several localities of Haldwani are facing acute water shortage for drinking and washing purposes against which local level protests are being reported here.

In certain areas, the tubewells are non-functional on account of poor maintenance or the absence of pumping stations. Meanwhile, in certain areas people are complaining that the water being supplied is of poor quality. There are media reports of more than 100 hand pumps being non-functional in the district.

A meeting was held at the Vikas Bhawan in Bhimtal on Tuesday to take stock of the situation in the district.

Chief Development Officer (CDO) Dr Pankaj Kumar has asked the officials of the various departments, including power, irrigation and water supplies to work in co-ordination and make an action plan that can be implemented on priority once funds are received for the next financial year.

He also asked the officials to prepare a list of the available tankers and asked them to ensure that each tanker has three to four outlets. He also called for a list pertaining to the non-functional hand pumps and asked the officials to start rectifying the faults at the earliest. The CDO also directed the official to prepare proposals for improving water supply situation in the district.

Mussoorie, March 31
A sudden storm accompanied by thunder showers in the late afternoon damaged lamp posts installed by the MDDA endangering the lives of pedestrians and tourists on the Mall Road in Mussoorie today. The storm which began around 4 pm broke the lamp posts into two halves that fell on the Mall Road at Library Bazar. Passers-by had a miraculous escape. The faulty damaged pole could have resulted in a serious accident if it had hit anybody on the road.

Samresh Jung, a tourist from Rajasthan, said the pole fell just before him. A minute’s delay could have resulted in a major accident.

The reason behind the incident is the advertisement boards installed on the poles for revenue generation by the MDDA. The strong gusty winds hammered through these advertisement boards and led to their falling on the road. Residents believe that if these advertisement board would not have be there the wind would have passed easily without any damage.

Mussoorie, March 31
Members of HelpAge India were in the city inspect a physiotherapy centre run in association with the Senior Citizen Forum at Gurdwara Library here yesterday.

Dr Vijeta Malhotra apprised the delegation from different states of the functioning of the centre and urged the members to open such centre in their states too.

Dr Apga Singh informed the delegates on the functioning of the centre in detail and was of the view that the centre was fast becoming a blessing for senior citizens of the town.

Programme manager Dr Bobby Poulose from Delhi, Dr G Nilesh and Valerian Pais from Maharashtra and Goa, respectively, shared their experiences with senior citizens and said they were motivated with this visit and would start a centre in their areas soon.

Dehradun, March 31
The ONGC Officers Mahila Samiti held an extravagant fun fair, “Anand Mela 2010”, at the ONGC here today. The theme of mela was “national integrity” organised by officers’ wives. The hosts also installed their stalls of food and delicacies from different states.

Stalls of Punjabi and South Indian delicacies were the main attraction of the mela that also fetched maximum customers than others. The stall of meetha zarda pan was another the centre of attraction.

Mostly aged people thronged to purchase the Indian mouth fresheners. Tambola and lucky draw lured many in the mela.

ED-HOI, KDMIPE, PK Bhowmick and ED-Chief E&D Dte YMS Reddy were the chief guests on the occasion. They congratulated the women’s association and appreciated their endeavours in organising such an event.

Pitthoragarh, March 31
Once they were in the forefront of an anti-liquor movement in Uttarakhand, but now they are increasingly getting into the liquor trade. Uttarakhand women this year snatched nearly 30 liquor shops in the state out of a total of nearly 500, which is 6 per cent of the total liquor shops.

“But to save face, the Uttarakhand government is still on the policy in which no woman can sell or tender the liquor in the state,” says Kamala Pant, a social worker and leader of anti-liquor movement in the state. “It is because of the system of auction of liquor shops, in which women help their male partners in getting the liquor shop at the auction by making an extra bid,” said Arvind Kohli, District Excise Officer, Pitthoragarh.

Out of 27 liquor shops allotted to women, 16 are in the Garhwal region and 11 in Kumoan. In Kumoan, Udham Singh Nagar got a maximum of 12 women liquor traders out of 46 women who had applied for it. “The women applied in big numbers for liquors shop this time. The number of these applications were almost 10 times than the allotment to women,” said S Tripathi, in charge Excise Officer, where 18 women applied for the 15 liquor shops.

Once there was a time when hill women protested against liquor. In the ’70s, the famous movement of Tincharimai in Pauri Garhwal rocked the hills as the lone sanyasin set the liquor shop on fire in front of the Garhwal Commissioner. “Women have become an instrument of liquor traders of Uttarakhand and have been superseded by their male counterparts for the past 10 years,” said Kamla Pant. It is not that women in Uttarakhand did not protest against liquor this time. According to anti-liquor activists in the state, women groups protested against this liquor auction in Gangolihat, Bageshwar, Ramnagar, Rudryaprayag, Bhimtal, Champawat and Chamoli districts, but their protests went unheard. “It should not be considered a defeat for the women against liquor in the state. The movement will be organised again as common hill women are still against liquor in the state,” claimed Pant regretting that the anti-liquor movement in the state since 1970 could not bear fruits.

Dehradun, March 31
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today presided over an important meeting linked with forest fires. Nishank directed officials for prompt constitution of village forest fire safety committees for an effective check on forest fires. He also sought utilisation of information technology for forest fire mitigation. He also directed District Magistrates and Divisional Forest Officers for conducting regular monitoring of sensitive areas. He also was for rendering adequate training to youth and mahila mangal dals. He also directed for providing Rs 10 lakh to every Gram Sabha as encourage amount.

Uttarakhand Chief Secretary NS Napalchayal said so far incidents of forest fire had reduced drastically this year. He said there were plans to seek the services of the ITBP and the SSB for meeting forest fire challenges. He said crew stations in big numbers had also been established.

Dehradun, March 31
The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) is strengthening its base by making its officers and employees accountable for their responsibilities.

After holding a board meeting with the Directors of seven mandals and all senior officers of the GMVN, Anil Nautiyal, Chairperson of the GMVN, apprised the media about the priorities of the GMVN in the coming days when the pilgrimage season will begin in the state.

Nautiyal also admitted that the state had to do away with the centralised system where every employee of the GMVN from the all over the state came running to Dehradun for their needs and problems, an exercise which wasted time, money and effort and created confusion on both sides.

He said, “We had no idea how many employees are working under the GMVN and what their responsibilities are. As per our knowledge, there are not 800 but 1,800 total employees, including daily wagers and contractual.

“To decentralise the system and allocate responsibilities to these employees and officers, we will open offices under the chairmanship of Deputy General Manager in each region. They will be equipped with money, amenities and responsibilities”.

To encourage efficiency, the GMVN will for the first time send the promotion report, a move which Nautiyal said would be completed in a month.

He said, “By expanding our team and allocating responsibilities, we will be able to streamline the tourism prospect in the state and work in a more organised manner.”

He is also planning to pull up the officers and employees who take tourists casually. He made this observation after his team of directors of the seven mandals visited Himachal Pradesh to learn ways to increase tourism in the state.

He said, “It is a pity that not only local people, but officers too do not pay due regard to tourists. For this, I am going to tighten the leash on their behaviour. They will be given training pertaining to hospitality as we did for the caterers at Indian Hotel Management (IHM) when I heard complaints about their food preparation and presentation”.

He also talked about taking other steps such as buying new and good tourist vehicles, preparing local souvenirs and offering local cuisine, including beverages, to tourists to improve tourism in the state.

Nautiyal also announced the construction a five-star hotel in Kotdwar where 20 acres of the GMVN are gathering dust. He said he would look into the tourism potential in the entire belt. He said he was planning to set up a tent colony at various sites in the course of the 238-km pilgrimage to Nanda Devi.

He said the GMVN had bagged the ground handling contract worth Rs 1.35 lakh of Air India. This would generate employment for local people, he said.

l To open offices under DGM in each region

l Officers to get hospitality training

l New tourist vehicles

l Preparing local souvenirs

l Local cuisine and beverages for tourists

l Five-star hotel in Kotdwar

l Tent colony on Nanda Devi route

Dehradun, March 31
After thieves, it’s their guarantors who are on the police radar now. Taking stock of the four thefts committed on Monday, the state capital police besides preparing a list of thieves who were arrested in the past five years, has also decided to initiate action against those who had facilitated their bail.

The police said they would identify the persons who gave bail of the thieves and would interrogate them to trace the thieves.

The police said if the guarantors didn’t provide information about these thieves, it would initiate action against them.

“We will identify the persons who gave the bail of these thieves to get the information about them and if they don’t cooperate, we would take action against them,” said Superintendent of Police (City) Jagatram Joshi.

The police has identified 122 thieves arrested in the past five years and taken 47 of them into custody. Nineteen of these are booked under Kotwali police station, seven under Clement Town police station, four each under Patel Nagar police station, Dalanwala police station, Cantt police station, Nehru Colony police station, two under Basant Vihar police station and one Raipur police station.

The SP said the police had taken 47 thieves into custody and after verification and interrogation had left them. It also took their fingerprints and photographs and warned them against indulging in any criminal activities in future.

It may be recalled that on Monday the thieves in the city kept the police on its toes committing four thefts in a single night. Out of these, two big theft incidents came to light from Rishikesh, while two from the state capital, one at the house of a freedom fighter and another at the house of a factory owner. 

Dehradun, March 31
Media reports seem to have alerted ‘fraud’ babas operating centres in the city as the Dehradun police couldn’t find even a single baba at the centres during its verification drive today.

They supposedly left the city after reading about the police drive in newspapers a day before, said the police.

The police had identified four locations in the city - Gandhi Road, Arhaghar, Chakrata Road and Darshan Lal - from where these ‘fraud’ babas operate from.

During its raid at the four centres in the morning today, no baba could be located there.

“We have warned their followers at these centres to vacate the place within 24 hours and are confident that with more such drives, we will be able to flush out these babas from the city,” said Jagatram Joshi, SP (City).

Joshi stated that all these babas were fraud and none of the centres were registered. He said that they fooled people, particularly women, students and unemployed youths, by promising to solve their problems.

The SP said that gullible people were enticed through advertisements in the media. He added that the police would ask print and the electronic media organisations not to publish advertisement of these ‘fraud’ babas.

The police had decided to launch the verification drive after receiving several complaints against the babas of them indulging in criminal activities.

Dehradun, March 31
Two persons in their 20s died after a tree fell in front of their two-wheelers they were riding near the IT Park on the Shastradhara road today.

According to police information, Vishal (28), resident of Haridwar Road, was on 
his motorcycle, while Sarasvati (28), resident of Sudhowala, was on her scooter (UA 11 M 5031) when they met with the accident.