Haridwar, April 17
Today the war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) turned ugly and came to the streets when state Cabinet Minister for Health BS Bhauriyal had to face stiff resistance from Congress workers when he was to lay the foundation stone of a sub-health camp in Subash Nagar.

The problem occurred between the Congress and the BJP party units as Union state minister Harish Rawat laid the foundation stone of the health centre a fortnight ago. This had irritated the BJP district unit and they termed the Congress minister’s inauguration as only to take credit.

But the Congress workers who had rallied for the establishment of this health centre claimed that it was only due to the efforts by the Congressmen that the centre was sanctioned. So, today when Subash Nagar again witnessed the foundation stone-laying ceremony, within a span of two weeks, tension built up and a clash between the two political party workers was witnessed.

Led by city chief OP Chauhan and Kiran Singh Congress workers showed black flags to the cavalcade of the state minister and blocked the road to stop the minister from reaching the venue.

The police had to intervene and 10 Congress workers were taken into custody to ensure the state Health Minister inaugurates the foundation plate.

Terming the Congress protest as unethical, Health Minister BS Bhauriyal said development works should not be used to take political advantage and hoped that soon with the construction of the health centre, people of Subash Nagar and nearby villages would get benefited from it.

But the Congress activists termed Bhauriyal’s inauguration as BJP’s propaganda to put their name in everything, irrespective of it being Centre-aided project or even a non-governmental.

“We strenuously worked for years to get this health centre sanction for our area, but instead of getting applause we got ill-treated by the police and BJP workers,” said Kiran Singh who received injuries in the clash.

Now, the Congress has decided to take this matter further and corner the BJP government. Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rastogi said they had apprised Harish Rawat about the issue and he would visit Subash Nagar soon.

Among others who were arrested and later released in the evening were RL Upadhyay, Sangeeta Bharadwaj, Telu Ram, Manoj, AK Upadhyay and Praveen Saini.

Dehradun, April 17
Activists of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) who broke open the office of the MNA and threw his chair outside to protest against alleged arbitrariness of the MNA in the hoarding policy matter were forced out of the premises by the aggressive group of the Akhil Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (ABMS).

The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) premises soon turned into a battleground where the police took everything in its control. A police case has been registered against the UKD activists.

The UKD members, led by city president Bahadur Singh Rawat, broke open the lock and smashed chairs kept inside and threw am MNA chair outside. Showcasing their anger against the absentee MNA, Bahadur Singh Rawat said, “Despite our prior intimation, he did not reach office. We demand that he reveal how much bribe he has taken to thwart the hoarding policy. A corrupt officer like him will have to leave the office”.

Agitated by the violent behaviour of the UKD members, the ABMS activists came ranting slogans against the former and pushed them out.

The UKD leaders soon withdrew and stood on one side. Their vice-president Pushpa Mungai took on Subhash Valmiki and Sanjay Kumar for having manhandled her in the clash. “They have no right to assault a woman. They should first learn to behave before trying to become politicians,” she shouted. No UKD leader could gather courage to come to her aid when she fought alone.

Valmiki to clear his position said he was trying to solve the fights between women members of both sides.

Sanjay Kumar, taking strong objection to the rowdiness of the UKD, said, “They have no right to damage government property, that too in the absence of the officer concerned”.

The UKD which had decided to put their lock on the MNA office had to retreat from the ground.

Nainital, April 17
A total of 165 purchase centres have been set up across Kumaon by the Food and Supplies Department, Co-operative Department and Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure wheat for the current season. The number of procurement centres has gone up by 21 as compared to the last season.

According to Regional Food Controller PK Mulasi, “The maximum numbers of procurement centres are in Udham Singh Nagar district with the figure standing at 144. There are 17 centres in Nainital and four in Champawat district. This year till April 12, 3,809 metric tonne had been procured in Udham Singh Nagar, whereas the corresponding figure for the last year in the district was 382 metric tonne.

Similarly, 103 metric tonne wheat has been procured in Nainital till the said date, while the corresponding figure for the past year was 2 metric tonne. In Champawat the procurement has been to the tune of 32 metric tonne against nil in the corresponding period last year”.

He informed that this year a total of 3,945 metric tonne of wheat has been procured in Kumaon till April 12 against 384 metric tonne for the corresponding period last year.

Mulasi further informed that owing to the strike and unrest in the jute mills, the government and the FCI had permitted that wheat be procured in plastic bags in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand this year.

He further informed that till now the Co-operative Department had been provided with 3,97,500 plastic bags which were enough for procuring 19,875 metric tonne of wheat. Similarly, the Food and Supplies Department had been provided with 83,940 plastic bags which were enough to procure 4,197 metric tonne.

The FCI already has enough bags at its disposal. In Udham Singh Nagar alone, the office of Assistant Director Co-operatives has been made available 3,25,000 bags which can accommodate procurement of 16,205 metric tonne of wheat, while the procurement till now has been 3,456 metric tonne.

Since the procurement is being done in plastic bags, it is being ensured that the moisture content in the wheat does not exceed 12 per cent. Similarly, farmers have been advised to dry the wheat harvested through combined harvesters before bringing it to procurement centres.

Mussoorie, April 17
The water and power crises in Mussoorie has angered tourists and residents alike in Mussoorie. The tourists have to face unannounced electricity cut tomorrow starting from 9 am to 12 noon. The town is already facing a cut of two hours from 1 pm to 3 pm on a daily basis.

Raman Deep Singh, a tourist from Patiala, said he came to Mussoorie with his family for relaxing and to avoid all such hassles being faced in their town. He further said he thought that Mussoorie being in Uttarakhand was an “urja pradesh” according to government claims, but on the contrary he was surprised to find such power shortage here. Drinking water crisis is also on the increase due to power shortage as most of the water is pumped from local springs using electricity. The water crisis is not only prevalent in Mussoorie, but also at adjoining destinations like Kempty Fall, Nainbagh, Damta falling on the Yamnotri Yatra route. Shopkeepers are forced to fetch water from the springs, which have not yet dried, kilometres away.

The administration has promised that all basic amenities will function normally after the Kumbh, but there has been no change in the status. BJP leaders have already claimed to keep Mussoorie away from such cuts to avoid any inconvenience to the tourists this summer, but officials from departments concerned have other ideas for the reason best known to them.

Ramesh, a local resident, was of the view that most of the bureaucrats and ministers were residing in the comfort of their rooms fitted with ACs were the least concerned with the problems the common man was facing. It seemed that the BJP-led government had not come out of the euphoria of successful culmination of the Kumbh and had forgotten the task in hand completely.

Dehradun, April 17
The city is passing through acute power crisis. Residents, who have been suffering the regular three-hour cuts in the afternoon from 3 pm to 6 pm, do not mind the timing getting replaced in the morning schedule from Saturday onwards.

But the period, which was scheduled from 10 am to 1 pm, was over stretched from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm in the morning itself.

Hoping they would get relaxed afternoon, the residents of the Rajpur area were cheated again with second harrowing cut, which lasted from 3 pm to 5.30 pm.

The blame for the second cut was put on faulty transformer, which took two and a half hour to repair. The official assured people that the power cut would remain confined to three hours in the morning.

But the way they are stretching the period of the power cuts, it shows the poor state of power in the state.

As per the figure, the state which required 26 MU (Million Unit) is producing only 9 MU, managing 10 MU from the Centre, overdrawing 2 MU more and resorting to load shedding to make up for the loss of rest of 5 MU. The state government’s decision to buy 2.5 MU can salvage its dismal position to some extent in near future. But for now, there does not seem to be any relief.

Nainital, April 17
An inflammatory write-up published in a weekly paper in Lal Kuan led to a massive protest by Muslims at the Lal Kuan police station.

The agitated mob, claiming that the write-up had hurt their religious sentiments, held a demonstration at the police station till late at night.

After the arrest of the person claiming to be editor of the said publication, the situation became normal.

Investigations into the matter have revealed that the publication is not registered and neither has there been a declaration made available to the District Information Office about its publication from the district.

Sources said taking a strict note of the gross violation of law, the top-level district authorities had started legal proceedings against the publisher of the paper and seized the printing press.

Dehradun, April 17
At an awards function organised by the Doon Citizens Council, Margaret Alva, Governor, and Shah Nawaz Hussain, MP and former Cabinet Minister, gave away ‘Pride of Uttarakhand’ awards to six distinguished personalities from the city, namely Dr Swami Gurukulananad Kachhari, Jot Singh Gunsola, MLA, Rajinder Singh Rajan, social worker, Rajeev Ghai, industrialist, Rakesh Oberoi, entrepreneur, and Jyotsna Brar, educationist, two icons Brij Mohan Lal Munjal, chairman of Hero Group, and Chanda Kocchar, chairperson of ICICI Bank, who could not make it to the occasion.

Jyotsna Brar, Principal of prestigious Welham Girls’s School, said as an educationist, she still had a lot to do and could not derive satisfaction from her present laurels.

She said, “In such a large country, there is a lot to be done in education sector. A galling divide between reasonable standards of private schools and the appalling situation of government schools is to be bridged.t”.

Reacting about the provision of 25 per cent reservation for poor children in private schools made mandatory under the recently passed the Right to Education Act, she said, “It is a noble cause to give reservation to poor children in private schools. But the obstacles such as giving admission to such children in a class at any age without any screening should be duly analysed and sorted out so that such provisions serve their right purposes”.

As a Principal of a girls’ boarding school, she said one of her vital aims would be to make parents more understanding of the requirements and aptitude of the students’ career choices in their senior classes.

Alva called upon retired bureaucrats and ex-servicemen to serve the state with their experience, knowhow and free time.

Dehradun, April 17
Uttarakhand Speaker Harbans Kapoor today held a meeting towards facilitating regularisation of Premnagar land inhabited by communities that had come to India after Partition.

The meeting headed by Principal Secretary Subhash Kumar decided to conduct speedy works towards regularisation of this land. The Principal Secretary and a senior official from April 25 to next nine days will be present at Sanatan Dharam Mandir, Premnagar, and resolve all issues of regularisation.

The Speaker also expressed concern over delay in installation of ATM machine and water cooler in Paltan Bazar near Mission School.

MDDA vice-chairman RK Sudhanshu, Chief Executive Officer, Dehradun Municipal Corporation, Indu Kumar Bodai and local councillor Surendra Kukreja attended the meeting.

Dehradun, April 17
Traditional handicrafts and customary artworks is all about Craft Bazar that started at the Parade Ground here today. The Textile Ministry Development Commission and the Indira Craft Welfare Society have organised the funfair handicraft show to promote the art of handicraft as well as for the development of artisans.

Madhu Gupta, an organiser and president of the Indira Craft Welfare Society, and Jagdish Sharma, secretary of the society, held a press conference to brief about the fair that will conclude on April 22.

The intricate and refined work from artisans of 12 states have been showcased in the fair. More than 150 stalls of handicrafts from Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and other states have collectively come down at one place to showcase their talents and handicrafts, while representing the diversified colours of the Indian culture and heritage. The intriguing and symmetrical handwork of Nagaland’s bamboo craft or interestingly fine work on Himachali shawls are the prominent attraction of the event. Crochet work, leather crafts, home-made decorative items, junk jewelleries, potteries, organic clothes and food stalls of various states are the other attraction of the Craft Bazar. The indigenous artists of the state will also perform cultural folk dances.

“Craft Bazar is a portrayal of functional art forms of India, which is very much popular all over the world,” said Madhu.