Dehradun, April 26
The road blocks on the Song Dam Project, which has been spewing fire for the past four years, have been cleared with both state ministers concerned, Drinking Water Minister Prakash Pant and Irrigation Minister Matbar Singh Kandari joining hands together to give this project on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

A subcommittee involving higher officials of both departments, including HoD, Irrigation, AB Pathak, MD Jal Nigam Bhajan Singh and Additional Secretary (Drinking Water) Amit Negi, has been created to prepare all modalities regarding this project.

This Rs 534-crore project, which is estimated to give 2,560 litre water every day and feed the requirements of the bulging population of the city till year 2051, will also produce 6 MW electricity which will give an additional revenue of Rs 10 crore. The 148.25-metre-high dam, which could not be started due to paucity of funds, will take six years to be completed on the Song river near Sondhana village.

The DPR has already been prepared by the Irrigation Department, which cost it around Rs 226.90 lakh on carrying out research work. “It is mainly a drinking water project, but it will also irrigate nearby villages. Since such projects fall in domain of the Irrigation Department for its expertise on the subject, so the department will continue to supervise the project whenever it is given under the PPP mode,” said Pathak.

The project will have its own share of hurdles to clear. The 83.85-metre hectare region will submerge due to the reservoir of the dam, most of which 72.12 hectare will fall into forest land and rest comes from 11.73 hectare land of two villages namely Gursal and Ragargaon, which will affect 19 families of the villages.

Acquiring land for the purpose will not be a major problem, according to Chief Engineer Amir-ul-Hasan. He said, “Decks are clear with the Environment Ministry, which understand the significance of such dams that fulfil the basic need of drinking water of people. I hope we will smoothly get through the Forest Department and two villages for land acquirement”.

As per the report prepared for the project, the state, which had 6.325 lakh population, was struggling with shortage of 764.60 lakh litre water. It is estimated that the population, which swell to 13.19 lakh in year 2051, will face shortage of 2560 litre, which will be compensated by the supply through this dam.

“The river water will be treated and taken to public through gravity flow technique. The Irrigation Department will do the job of taking the river water from the dam to Kesarwala waterworks, where the Water Works Department will treat it and making it potable for public,” said Hasan.

Pathak added that due to gravity flow, the expenses on pumping water would be saved and ground water would also be recharged. He also said due to the dam, a 4-km lake would be created which would be developed as tourism site by bringing in facilities such as boating, angling and cafes.

Nainital, April 26
The towns of Haldwani and Lal Kuan continue to witness communal overtones on the issue of the arrest of a writer, the editor and the printer of a weekly journal following the publication of a “blasphemous” piece about 10 days ago.

The towns continue to witness large-scale police deployment to ward off any communal trouble. Over the past three days, there have been attempts to hype the issue, but the timely intervention by the administration and the police has kept the things under control.

On Friday, there was a heavy police deployment in Haldwani right from early morning following intelligence inputs that Muslims might stage a protest on the issue after the Friday prayers at the local mosque. The police managed to persuade community leaders not to carry out any such protest. However, groups of Muslims have been demanding that the editor of the journal, “Bhasha Setu”, be booked under the National Security Act.

This has been followed by activists of various Hindutva organisations seeking the release of the editor claiming that he is innocent. The groups have been trying pressure tactics and have even held a media interaction on the issue, saying that they will launch a mass agitation if their demand is not met.

Talking to The Tribune, Inspector General of Police (IG) for Kumaon Range Jeevan Chandra Pande said, “There is no question of the police coming under pressure from any of the groups. In this matter law will take its own course. Anyone trying to vitiate the atmosphere will be dealt with strictly”.

The trouble had started with the circulation of a publication in Lal Kuan on Friday in which a writeup had been published that aimed to hurt the sentiments of the Muslims. Interestingly, the writeup was published under the byline of Hafizuddin.

Through his piece the writer had questioned internationally acclaimed painter Maqbool Fida Husain, who has been targeted by Hindutva elements, why he portrays religious characters from the Hindu mythology in his works and why not he does the same with Islamic characters.

Since the piece had no continuity and flow, leaders of both Hindu and Muslim communities gauged the fact that it was an attempt to foment trouble since the publication was circulated only in Muslim-dominated areas.

Investigations revealed that the journal was not registered in Nainital district and neither has there been any declaration from its editor that such a publication having its headquarters elsewhere was being brought out from here.

Reacting to the incident promptly, the district administration had got writer Hafizuddin, editor Ranjit Kumar Bhattacharya and owner of New HJ Printing Press in Haldwani arrested, while the press had also been sealed. The printer was subsequently released on bail.

Dehradun, April 26
In the backdrop of tomorrow’s Bharat Bandh against rising inflation in the country, members of the Left, Samajwadi Party (SP) and other organisations took out a rally to mobilise opinion in favour of the bandh here today.

The rally that started from the Gandhi Park criss-crossed the city. Carrying flags of their respective parties, the members accused the Congress-led Central government of doing little to check inflation in the country.

Leaders from the Left, SP and other organisations appealed to their party workers to make tomorrow’s bandh a resounding success.

Trade unions like CITU, student unions as the SFI and several other organisations took part in the rally.

Dehradun, April 26
Forest guards in Uttarakhand today announced to force closure of the Rajaji National Park from tomorrow as part of their next phase of agitation even while the park authorities refused to go for any confrontation with the agitators.

“We are going to close the Rajaji National Park tomorrow as part of our next phase of protest,” said RR Painuily, general secretary of the Uttarakhand Forest Guards Association. He said after closing the park, the forest guards could even resort to closing down of the Lachchiwala picnic spot.

Seeking better promotion prospects, the forest guards had started their stir on April 16.

The stir at the park could disrupt the flow of tourists who come to this protected area in big numbers. However, Director of the Rajaji National Park Raisaily ruled out any confrontation with the forest guards and asserted that the park activities would continue normally even after forest guards closed of Chila gate of the park. Raisaily also ruled out that the forest guards’ stir was in any way affecting the security on the park premises. He also admitted that some of the forest guards were reporting on duty in the park.

On other hand, the forest guards stir has put the higher state forest authorities in a dilemma in the backdrop of raging fires in forest areas in the state. However, Chief Conservator of Forests and nodal officer for forest fires KS Samant said despite the stir by forest guards, the crew stations were working effectively.

Meanwhile, the forest guards’ dharna at the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests continued today whereas the forest guards posted at various forest divisions and protected areas of Uttarakhand too boycotted work.

Dehradun, April 26
The state Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) announced the formation of an ad hoc committee in a press conference here today.

“The decision of setting up a local committee was made in consultation with NCP national president Sharad Pawar, along with its national general secretary and in charge,” said Divya Nautiyal, state president of the party.

The newly appointed committee members with immediate effect are:

President -Divya Nautiyal; senior vice-presidents - Surendra Singh Bhilangwal (Chamoli), Vigyan Vikram Shah (Tehri), KS Verma (Dehradun), Kripal Singh Ekant (Dehradun), Champi Arya (Pitthoragarh) and KS Rautela (Nainital).

General secretaries- Manoj Dhyani (Dehradun), Sandip Ghildiyal (Pauri), Ved Pal (Dehradun), Ramesh Geturi (Almora) and Kunti Parihar (Kumaon).

Treasurer - Harish Sati (Chamoli); office secretary - Sachin Gauniyal (Dehradun); secretaries - Pradip Singhal (Dehradun), Rishu Aggarwal (Kotdwar), Kapil Batra (Kotdwar), Sanjay Sundriyal (Dehradun), Mohan Negi (Pauri), Sanjay Nautiyal (Pauri), Khemraj Ghildiyal (Pauri), Vivek Mishra (Udham Singh Nagar), Ahsan Ali (Kashipur), Raju Pandey (Haldwani), Mahendra Kaushal (Dehradun), Shivcharan Gosain (Pauri) and Chandrakala (Dehradun).

Organising secretaries - Raj Kishore (Roorkee), Patik Walter (Dehradun), Teluram Pundir (Haridwar), Virsingh Rawat (Chamoli), Dev Prakash Ramesh Bisht (Bageshwar) and Chandra Mohan Sethi (Nainital).

Spokesperson -Manoj Dhyani (Dehradun); joint spokesperson -Chandra Prakash Budakoti (Pauri); state Mahila Congress Savitri Uniyal (Dehradun), state Youth Congress Shailesh Kumar Verma (Dehradun), state Kisan Congress Jagpal Singh Saini (Haridwar).

Haridwar, April 26
Employees of the Haridwar Development Authority (HDA) today held a protest and warned of intensifying their agitation if necessary action was not taken against the alleged encroacher at the Shiv Lok Colony belonging to the BJP, who physically abused the HDA employees who had gone there to remove encroachments.

Notably, two days back, led by assistant engineer Ajay Kumar Mathur, a team of the HDA had gone to Shiv Lok Colony to remove encroachment on HAD Phase-III plot No-M:74 encroached on by one Navin Kaushik. When the team started dismantling the encroached infrastructure, Kaushik, along with BJP workers, attacked the HAD employees and assaulted them stopping them from doing their duty.

As a result, the employees today remained absent from their duty and were supported by all HDA employees.

The employees demanded stern legal action against the attackers and removal of encroachment from the said plot immediately.

The protesters also accused the police of favouring the assaulters as they belonged to the ruling BJP government.

Showing the copy of a letter to The Tribune, in which security cover was sought from the Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) for providing police personnel as the encroachment drive was to be carried out from April 24 from 8 am onwards, Ajay Mathur said despite this, adequate protection was not provided to the HAD team.

The employees also urged their secretary to look into the matter as they feel insecure in carrying out their duty, as the assaulter had warned of further harm if they returned to carry out their drive.

Dehradun, April 26
Experts yesterday said the early detection of kidney stones could prevent the incidence of heart attacks and diabetes problems.

In India the epidemic is growing and at least 10 per cent of the population may be having kidney-related problem. “If given immediate attention, other multi-system diseases like diabetes, increase in blood pressure and even diabetes can be checked,” said Prof RK Sharma of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute, Lucknow, while delivering a lecture on, “Towards better renal care,” at the 52nd Annual Symposium organised by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) here.

He said routine urine and blood tests should be conducted so as to detect the problem in it’s infancy.

While Dr SK Singh of the PGI, Chandigarh, said for the management of renal stones, a strategy should be adopted that prevented it’s recurrence. “A diet management programme can be started after the homeostasis period of three months. Purine and oxalate-forming eatables should be avoided and taken in moderation only,” he said.

Dr Vikram Singh, nephrologist, said kidney stone problem was rising in the state. “It may be due to the presence of calcium in water, extreme dehydration and other problems,” he said.

However, non-invasive procedures were proving to be helpful in getting rid of stones without the open surgery.

In the inaugural session and delivering a key-note address, Dr JP Nawani asked the government to bring in legislations similar to Maharashtra and other states that provided protection to doctors against unruly behaviour.

Dr Bheem S Pandhi, patron, IMA, also urged the government to make Dehradun polythene free.

Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat said rather than coming up with a legislation, trust between patients and doctors needed to be built.

Dehradun, April 26
In the fond memory of renowned poetess and philanthropist, Rita Sharma, the Dharatal organisation held an honouring ceremony at the auditorium of MKP Inter College here today.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Atul Sharma, president of the organisation, said Rita Sharma was the nightingale of Dehradun. She was a great littérateur and dedicated her entire life for the downtrodden.

He also said her demise was a national loss as she contributed a lot through her array of poems.

On the occasion, Sangeeta Dhaundiyal was honoured with the souvenir, shawl and flowers for her achievements by the organisation.

Ravindra Jugran, president of the Rajya Andolan Kari Parishad, was the chief guest who also honoured the artistes.

Earlier, the ceremony was started by lighting of lamp. Children also presented songs and poems in the memory of the departed soul.

Nainital, April 26
A 22-year-old local youth was found murdered near the Raza Club here today morning. The deceased has been identified as Shehzad. One of the six sons of a tailor, he used to make his earnings through an air rifle shooting stall where customers used to shoot at balloons.

According to information, local passers-by found his body lying in a pool of blood early in the morning. On reaching the spot, the police found that he had been shot twice, once in the chest and once at the temple. It was a gruesome sight as one of his eyeballs had come out because of the impact of the shot at his temple.

The motive behind the murder is yet unknown and neither is the identity of the killer. The body has been sent for post mortem.