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After Vision-2020, it’s Mission Hindi for
CM
Mayor-MNA tussle paralyses DMC working
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Vijay Bahuguna, Tehri Garhwal MP, pays homage to his father and former UP CM Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna in Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Information Commissioner for changing status of forest villages
Cong protest against corruption on May 5
MP seeks relief from China for tribals
Forest staff step up vigil
Two-day convention on rural development held
Om Prakash, Secretary, Rural Development, addresses an annual convention of the Pradeshik Vikas Sewa Sangathan in Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Citizens for Green Doon remove hoardings from trees
Bharat Bandh by Left tomorrow
Congress former MP Guria dead
Maoists’ attacks on Left parties flayed
Speakers at a seminar organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Union on the situation in West Bengal in Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph
Birth anniversary of Panchen Lama observed
Tibetans observe Panchen Lama’s birth anniversary in Mussoorie on Sunday.
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After Vision-2020, it’s Mission Hindi for
CM
Haridwar, April 25 Stating that Hindi, despite being the national language, was not being given importance and therefore a nationwide mass movement was needed to give it its due place. Nishank was speaking at a function organised by Uttarakhand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya here today where he strongly advocated for the spreading and maximising usage of the Indian national language. Urging the need to take this as a mission, the Chief Minister said, “If we have to align the whole nation in one unit, then it’s achievable by Hindi as by this language only we can make a mark of our culture. But while we give importance to the Hindi language, we have to take care that other regional languages don’t remain neglected. If other languages will flourish, the Hindi language will also prosper,” remarked Nishank. Giving an insight into his hold in the Hindi language, Dr Nishank gave an elocution at the function itself casting a spell on the audience with his wide range of words and poetry. He revealed a facet of his personality which not many know. “From the time I rise and then go to bed, everything I see I try to put in the form of words. Literature is the best only when it changes the deformities in the society and reverberates deep down in our heart,” he stated. Further Nishank narrated his own penned verse: “Abhi bhi hai jung jaari, Vedna soyi nahi hai, Manujta hogi dhara par, Sanvedna khoyi nahi hai...” and even before he finished it the whole auditorium reverberated with the sound of claps. Earlier, Uttarakhand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya Chancellor Dr Sudha Rani Pandey thanked the Chief Minister for according Sanskrit the coveted status of the second official language of the state. Among those who graced the occasion were Sahitya Academy Hindi Paramarsh Mandal conveyor Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, member of Sahitya Academy Manjula Rana, Brijendra Tripathi, Gyanpeeth awardee Dr Himanshi Joshi and vice-president of Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya Mahavir Aggarwal, among others. Later, the Chief Minister also went to the religious camp of spiritual master Asha Ram Bapu at Hari Pur Kalan. Nishank sought blessings from the spiritual guru and was lauded by Bapu for the successful hosting of the Maha Kumbh in Haridwar under his government.
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Mayor-MNA tussle paralyses DMC working
Dehradun, April 25 The MNA’s office too remain closed most of the time. In the absence of higher officials, the crowd of people thronging the DMC office for the redressal of their grievances is also thinning down.
Since the MNA can not act beyond a point, especially on financial matters involving amounts above Rs 50,000 and on important constitutional matters, without Mayor’s approval, all developmental projects have come to a grinding halt. Election of the Development Committee, which was due on May 1, too has hung in abeyance for the Mayor’s approval. Similarly, MC Board’s meeting, which was to be held to decide upon user charges on solid waste management, has been postponed. Very few people knew about the Mayor’s presence in his office yesterday. Commenting on an abrupt lull on the DMC premises, Chamoli said: “The democracy is at stake in the DMC. The MNA is bypassing the Mayor, who is elected by the public, and taking arbitrary decisions. Therefore, I want to be clear as to who is to run the DMC before I execute my power on any project”. The election of the Development Committee has not been held for the past two years in the entire state. The election date, which was fixed for May 1, too, has been put off given the ongoing tussle between the MNA and the Mayor. The employees working in the DMC office, who are watching the entire drama as mute spectators are exercising utmost caution in taking orders so as to not to earn wrath of any of the warring faction. Mehraj, general secretary of the Karmachari Swayat Sangh, said: “Earlier, we would execute work even on oral orders, but these days we don’t act without getting written orders to avoid getting stranded unnecessarily in the ego tussles of higher-ups”. He though shrugged off being affected by the tense ambience of the DMC, saying that they were employees of lower ranks who came there to do their duties and remained least bothered what happened at the top level. He also added the premises had even in the past seen the same kind of clashes many a times, so it did not matter much to them. It is the public which seemed to have suffered the most in the entire ball game. People were seen cribbing about the nonchalance of officials regarding solving problems in their areas. “The higher officials are busier in sorting out their own scuffles and are least bothered about the concerns of general public. The state government seems to be sleeping over this fiasco whereas the common man like me is needlessly suffering,” said Manohar Rawat, a retired government employee who came to complain about encroachment in his locality. Traders take advantage of feud
Taking advantage of a feud between the Mayor and the MNA on the hoarding issue, a few unscrupulous traders have started installing their hoardings on non-permissible sites. Smartening their way up, they have begun with putting up hoardings carrying pictures and messages of BJP leaders. One such huge hoarding has come up near Atma Ram Dharamshala, another at Nany Bakery Chowk, near the Inder Cooperative Photo shop, and the third was witnessed near the Vidhan Sabha complex displaying pictures of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and BJP leader Vinay Goyal. When the matter was brought to the notice of Mayor Vinod Chamoli, he said: “The tactic used by the traders is to usurp the place for their hoardings. T hey occupy the space by carrying pictures of ruling party to prevent authorities in removing their hoardings and, after some days, when they become sure of the place, they put their own advertisement. The entire ploy is concocted to discourage action against them.” At the moment, when the Mayor is stuck deep into a quarrel with the MNA, he expressed his helplessness in taking action against such elements. “These unwanted occurrences will continue to haunt us unless there is a clear policy on such matters. This is what I had tried to do by bringing in clear norms on this ticklish issue but now it has caught into unnecessary controversy by people who have vested interests.” Chamoli also expressed concern on a number of illegal hoardings rising with each passing day. On the other hand, Uppar Nagar Adhikari Harsh Vardhan Mishra confirmed of carrying every day drive to mark illegal hoardings which he said after a week would be removed with penalty if the owners themselves did not take any action in removing them on their own. The MNA as usual was found unavailable in office and on the phone. |
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Homage paid to Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
Dehradun, April 25 Addressing a function held under the aegis of the Uttarakhand State Congress Committee, Tehri Garhwal MP and elder son of Bahuguna Vijay Bahuguna recalled the high principles followed by his father in politics. Vijay said his father had always believed in working for the betterment of the society and that was the very reason he asked his family members not to rejoice when he became Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. “Don’t rejoice, I have been made the Chief Minister to serve the people of Uttar Pradesh. You have no contribution in making me Chief Minister,” late Bahuguna had then told his family members, recalled Vijay Bahuguna. Bahuguna Smriti Samiti president and former MLA Ranjit Singh Verma said Bahuguna kept excellent administrative and organisational capability. “He had a very sharp memory and he remembered his workers by names,” Verma said. Congress MLA Dinesh Agarwal described Bahuguna as an institution in itself. Bahuguna was one of the greatest leaders of his time in the country. He said he was always sensitive to the concerns of downtrodden and unprivileged sections of
the society. Congress MLA Balbir Singh Negi, too, recalled his association with Bahuguna. “I am still following his footsteps in my political life,” he said. Former Congress minister Hira Singh Bisht said leaders of Bahuguna stature were very rare to find today. Senior Congress leader and Bahuguna follower Suryakant Dhasmana said late Bahuguna’s personality was a mixture of Gandian simplicity and struggling nature like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s. Dhasmana also spoke at length on the contribution of late Bahuguna in the development of backward region like Uttarakhand. “Apart from being instrumental in the creation of the Hill Council, he also facilitated the establishment of a university in Srinagar Garhwal, thereby opening up a new vista of education in the Garhwal hills,” Dhasmana observed. Former MLAs Subodh Uniyal, Phool Singh Bisht, Vijay Pal Sajwan, Shoorveer Singh Sajwan and Sadhuram were other prominent Congress members who offered tributes to late Bahuguna. Bahuguna hero of poor: Barthwal
Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna was remembered on his 91st birth anniversary at a function organised by the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Manav Trust here today. Vinod Barthwal, president of the state unit of the Samajwadi Party, said late Bahuguna was a champion of the poor, downtrodden and minorities and never compromised on his principles bringing laurels to Uttarakhand to which he belonged. He also proposed to install a statue of late Bahuguna on the premises of the Vidhan Sabha, which was planned by the Congress, but could not be installed as yet. “Even the Central government has failed to issue a postage stamp in his memory,” he lamented. |
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Information Commissioner for changing status of forest villages
Pitthoragarh, April 25 “Out of 200 forest villages in the state, 32 are situated in Haridwar district and they are deprived of all developmental programmes only on being forest village,” said Vinod Nautiyal, Information Commissioner, Uttarakhand. Nautiyal said during the past five years more than 97,000 people in the state had used write to information. “During this period more than 5,400 appeals were registered with the commission out of which only 203 appeals are pending,” said Nautiyal. Uttarakhand is a first state in the nation that has put 58 departments and 64 heads of departments under the RTI in the state using and prepared 17 manuals under section 41 B of the Write to Information Act. “Though these manuals are not being updated by the departments, we have done this work unlikely other states in 2006,” said Nautiyal. The Information Commissioner said the commission in the state had made it compulsory for all IAS and IPS officers to declared the details of their properties and instructed all departments to prepare two guard files of all government orders. He said Dehradun district tops in the state in using the RTI and after Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Pauri Garhwal and Nainital had used this act respectively. “The Bageswar district has used this act least and only five appeals from the districts have been registered with the commission and all five have been cleared, Pitthoragarh district has registered 20 appeals 19 out of which have been cleared while Champawat appealed only for the 12 queries,” said Nautiyal. According to the Information Commissioner, maximum information is being sought from the Education Department. During the past five years more than 2,000 people had either been penalised or ordered departmental action for neglecting the implementation of the RTI Act. |
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Cong protest against corruption on May 5
Mussoorie, April 25 Mall informed the media that party workers would converge at Thatyur and protest through mass meetings against the prevailing corruption in various schemes under Bharat Nirman Nigam being initiated by the central government. He said the BJP government was more interested in filling its pockets through corrupt practices and was shielding the corrupt officials due to ulterior motives. Mall also said Jaunpur was the home constituency of state minister Khajan Das and still corruption was at the highest level in the Dhanolty constituency. He said the party workers had resolved to reveal the irregularities carried out micro irrigation in the area. He said the agitation would continue in the constituency till action was taken against the coorupt officials. He said according to media reports a large amount of World Bank funds was being usurped by officials by constructing canals in the wrong places instead of the fields where these were needed the most. |
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MP seeks relief from China for tribals
Dehradun, April
25 Participating in a discussion on
tribals, Maharaj took up the issue of the tribal communities of the state. He said these three tribal communities had trade links with Tibet. “These communities even have valid papers of their land holdings in Tibet, now in possession of China, and thus need to be compensated by China,” Maharaj said. “These communities usually descend from hills during winters and go back to the hills during summers. Similarly, migration is done by inhabitants of the Niti Mana areas of Chamoli Garhwal during winters,” he added. The Congress MP also demanded starting of the Kailash Mansarovar
Yatra from the Niti Mana region. He said the Tharu and Boksha communities residing in the Ramnagar Assembly segment of Nainital district were still to get the land ownership rights, which was
depriving them of taking benefits from schemes like Indira Awas Yojna and others. He said even other development initiatives could not be started in the tribal land areas due to absence of land
ownership rights. |
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Forest staff step up vigil
Dehradun, April 25 Wild animals come to streams and other water bodies closer to habitations due to unavailability of water within forest areas, and thus become vulnerable to poachers. Patrolling has to been done to check and see that there are no metal snares near these water bodies and detect barbed wires that are used to capture wild animals by poachers. This is important as snare wires are planted near water bodies as poachers know very well that an animal can be killed easily once it is close to these water bodies. Dr Parag
Madhuker, presently Divisional Forest Officer of the Terai Central Forest Division, said they monitored water resources in the close proximity to forests and looked out for metal snares. The Terai forest authorities are also utilising metal detectors and even sniffer dogs to locate metal snares. Significantly, the forest fires during summers also make wildlife more vulnerable to poachers. Wild animals are forced to make an escape from thick forest areas when they are caught in the fires. This again brings them closer to habitations and susceptible to attack of poachers. |
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Two-day convention on rural development held
Dehradun, April 25 Barthwal held that she had decided to review the concerns of employees after every three months. Om Prakash, Secretary, Rural Development, said the notification for re-structuring of rural development employees would be issued latest by June 15. Forest and Rural Development Commissioner Subash Kumar, along with other senior Rural Development officials, were also present on the ocassion. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will address the valedictory session of the convention tomorrow. Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat will also be there.
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Citizens for Green Doon remove hoardings from trees
Dehradun, April 25 Addressing the media, Dr Nitin Pandey, a member of the organisation, said the group was doing the work of the Nagar Nigam and the Forest Department. It was the responsibility of both these organisations to ensure that illegal hoardings on the trees were removed as these were injurious to their health as it weakened their branches. A well-known theatre personality, Alok Ulfat, also participated in the drive. He said this advertisement board spoilt the beauty and sanctity of the trees. He wondered how schools, while imparting environmental knowledge to students, could themselves commit such a harmful act? He recalled that about 12 years ago he and his friends on their own initiative had removed such hoardings from trees and he was sad that he had to do such a thing again because even “educated” people behaved in an illiterate way. Vineeta Bhardawaj, Laksha Mehta, Sonia Pandey, Hema Phulera, Himanshu Arora, Shubendra Singh and Pushpa Bhandari participated in the drive.
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Bharat Bandh by Left tomorrow
Dehradun, April 25 Surendra Singh Sajwan, secretary of the party, said the Bharat Bandh was called only to bring the problems arising from the price rise to the notice of the Central government. The party also declared that they would take out a rally from the Gandhi Park here on April 26
at 4 pm. Dhyani made an appeal to businessmen and owners of transport groups to lead a
peaceful strike. Jabbar Singh Pawel, vice-president of the Rajya Andolankari Manch, Dr Atul Sharma, a poet, Navneet Gosain, general secretary of the Rajya Andolankari Parishad, Yakub Ali, Trilok Singh, Guru Charan Singh, Vikram Bahadur Thapa and Deepmala Sajwan also participated in the meeting. |
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Congress former MP Guria dead
Nainital, April 25 Born into the family of freedom fighter Kishori Lal Guria in Kashipur in 1931, he was known for his contribution to the social field right from his youth. Guria was a close associate of senior Congress politician Narayan Dutt Tiwari. He represented Kashipur as its legislator from 1980 to 1984. In the 1985 parliamentary polls, he won from the Nainital Baheri seat. He was also
appointed to a ministerial post in the Tiwari-led Uttarakhand government in 2006. He had also been a member of the All-India Congress Committee. For the past several years, Guria had been associated with several educational institutions in Kashipur. He is survived by his wife Vimla Guria and three daughters, all of whom are married. State Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Union Minister of State for Labour Harish Rawat, Lok Sabha members KC Singh Baba, Vijay Bahuguna, Satpal Maharaj, Pradeep Tamta and state Congress president Yash Pal Arya, along with several others, have expressed grief at the death of the veteran leader. |
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Maoists’ attacks on Left parties flayed
Dehradun, April 25 Many union workers participated in the seminar. They criticised the administration for being unable in providing security and safety to residents. The union was disturbed by the Maoists attacks occurring in West Bengal. Addressing the gathering, Vijay
Rawat, state secretary, CPM, said the price rise in India had broken the back of its citizens and the Central government was unable to do anything. He, along with CITU and other Left parties, offered support for the Bharat Bandh on April 27 to stage protests against the policies of the Central government. |
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Birth anniversary of Panchen Lama observed
Mussoorie, April 25 Tibetan women’s congress president Kalsang Dolma said on the occasion that the Lama had been missing from the age of six from Lahasa under mysterious circumstances. She alleged that the Chinese authority had abducted the Lama and kept him in prison. She demanded on the behalf of the community from the Chinese government to release their saint immediately. |
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Dehradun, April 25
Dehradun, April 25
Mussoorie, April 25
