The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Chakrota Road Widening CM gives shopkeepers hope of better relocation Tribune News Service Dehradun, May 22 Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today gave hope to shopkeepers of Chakrota Road of allocating them the PWD guest house land for their relocation. The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by MDDA Vice-Chairman RK Sudhanshu, Housing Secretary Uma Kant Pawar, District Magistrate Santhiyal Pandiyan and Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) Mayor Vinod Chamoli, visited both sites, the PWD guest house and the land behind the Gandhi Park. The shopkeepers were led by president of their association Shashi Kant Goyal who reiterated their demands before the Chief Minister, saying that only the site for the PWD guest house suited them as it was on the main road, easily approachable and wider. Refusing to accept the another alternative site behind the Gandhi Park, he said it was opened at one end only. Nishank asked his team of bureaucrats to consider both alternative sites. He gave strong indications saying that the PWD guest house land could be given to the shopkeepers keeping in view their considerations. For the Gandhi Park land, which measures almost equally to that of the PWD land, he asked the authorities concerned to make a passage on the other end of the road linking it to the old bus-stand and the PWD guest house, ultimately augmenting its commercial value. Since the proposal of the state government to make a “urban haat” on the lines of Delhi Haat housing around 1,110 shops on the PWD guest house land was opposed by the shopkeepers in view of traffic chaos and they have rather demanded the site for themselves, Nishank has considered of assimilating them in the same project. Chamoli said: “Another probability is that the Chakrota Road shopkeepers be given shops in the ‘urban haat’, which will also have other features such as a multiplex, a food court, etc. Parking facilities for 1,000 vehicles will be provided at the RFC building situated close by. The entire structure will be raised in three phases”. The move to displace 133 commercial and 43 residential units, which has been hanging fire for more than a decade to widen up Chakrota Road, seems to be gaining some ground with the Chief Minister’s visit.
	Record wheat procurement in Terai region Tribune News Service Nainital, May 22 The Terai region which is also known as the grain bowl of Uttarakhand is witnessing a record procurement of wheat this season.At a review meeting held to take stock of the wheat procurement till now, that was held on Thursday, it was recorded that by May 18 a total of 82,675 metric tonne of wheat had been procured against the target of 1,10,000 metric tonne fixed for the season. In the state pool also a total of 65,100 metric tonne of wheat has been procured against the fixed target of 1,00,000 metric ton. The Secretary and Commissioner of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Dr Dilbagh Singh said, “We are having a record procurement season this time and everything is working out as per the plans. The government has put in place a proper procurement process in place which is causing minimum discomfort to the problem”. He said the production of wheat in the Terai region covering parts of Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and parts of Nainital and Dehradun districts constituted a major portion of the total procurement. 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. The maximum number of procurement centres are in Udham Singh Nagar district with their figure standing at 144. Dr Singh said his department had gone in for procurement of empty jute and plastic bags for wheat storage well in advance this time. He further stated that proper storage facilities have also been set up. Owing to the strike and unrest in the jute mills, the government and the FCI have permitted that wheat be procured in plastic bags in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand this year. 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.
	DPCs herald development at grassroots level Tribune News Service Dehradun, May 22 After the conclusion of the District Planning Committee (DPC) elections, one can now hope for the devolution of power at the grassroots level. Once the DPC is constituted, it will be entrusted with the task of approving district plans and the government is also expected to receive the Backward Region Grant Fund (BGRF) for Tehri, Champawat and Chamoli, given by the Centre also that was stopped by the Central government. As envisioned in the 73 and 74 amendments of the Panchayati Raj Act, the DPCs are to have a greater say in the planning process, with local MLAs and MPs merely invitees. Earlier, the district plans were approved by the District Magistrates in consonance with the local MLAs and MPs of the districts. All this is going to change now. “Now, elected members will be actively involved in deciding how the district plan money is to be utilised. The proposals would now come from the lowest level (village) to the block level, finally reaching the DPCs,” said Madhu Chauhan, Chairman, Dehradun Zila Panchayat. Of the 310 members to the DPC, 248 were elected in the just concluded elections held on May 20. A total of 190 members are from zila panchayats and 58 from the local bodies area. While 62 members are to be nominated shortly for the DPC. In all, 115 candidates were in fray in the May 20 DPC elections on 52 seats for local body areas and 52 were elected from the state. While six candidates were earlier declared elected unopposed. Elections were held on 77 DPC zila panchayat seats for which 132 candidates were in the fray and 77 were elected, while 113 candidates were elected unopposed. According to the State Election Commission office, from the zila panchayat area, 113 members from seven districts of zila panchayat area were elected unopposed. These are: Almora -16, Udham Singh Nagar-20, Champawat-10, Pithoragarh-2, Bageshwar-1, Pauri-1, Rudraprayag-1. In all there were 132 candidates in the fray. Similarly, from the local body area the total number of candidates elected unopposed are from Chamapwat-1, Pithoragarh-2, Bageshwar-1, Pauri-1 and Rudraprayag-1 taking the total to six.
	Izzatnagar Railway Division revenue up Rajeev Khanna Tribune News Service Kathgodam, May 22 Continuously growing economic activity in the Kumaon region has helped the Izzatnagar Railway Division of the North Eastern Railways increase its revenue considerably in the financial year that ended on March 31. The Indian Railways is now in the process of drawing ambitious plans for the region that will not only help to increase its revenue, but also enhance the pace of development. Divisional Railways Manager KB Nanda said, “In the financial year 2009-10, we registered an increase of 19 per cent in passengers over the previous year. The increase registered in other coaching went up by 155.8 per cent, freight carriage went up by 27 per cent and our sundry earnings saw an increase of 38.5 per cent. In all, our gross income went up by 24 per cent as compared to the previous year. This has come around primarily on account of the increase in industrial and economic activity in Kumaon”. Referring to the freight handled on the Haldi Road station, which till last year was a nondescriptive station, he said the Railways handled 40 rakes of edible items produced by Nestle India and 90 rakes of automobiles produced in the region. This primarily included Tata Nano cars being produced here apart from the vehicles being produced by Mahindra and Mahindra. He said, “We have earned a revenue of Rs 19.62 crore from this station which had seen a 320-per cent increase in freight handling here.” The Railways was now planing to lay an additional track at the station. He said the Railways had developed the Bilaspur Road station as a container-loading terminal and for the past five months one rake was being handled from the station every month. He added that the Railways also handled one rake of refrigerators manufactured by Videocon that was to be sent to Ernakulam in Kerala on a trial basis. Nanda pointed out that some short comings came to light while handling fragile items like refrigerators and improvements were being made on this front. The Railways was now in the process of developing Bazpur as the second container handling terminal for the region. Transport of industrial produce by containers was gradually becoming popular in India as well after it proved to be effective in the rest of the world, said Nanda. It was said the Bazpur station would become a full-fledged container handling terminal over the next couple of months. An all-round improvement in the over all infrastructure had already been started by the Railways over there. Nanda also said the Railways had also entered into talks with the Food Corporation of India to handle its freight from the region to the other parts of the country and the outcome had been positive. He also added that his division bagged 10 of the 18 prizes in a recent inter-division competition held for the three divisions of the North Eastern Railways.
	Anti-smoking drive in cinema halls Sandeep Rana Tribune News Service Dehradun, May 22 Though the Uttarakhand police hasn’t challaned even a single violator for smoking in public places since the ban was imposed in the country in 2008, the district police here is all set to start a drive against smoking in cinema halls after receiving several complaints in this regard. The police said it received several complaints of smoking in cinema halls which created a problem for families, particularly women, who come to watch movie. The police would also put a stop at the selling of cigarettes and bidis on the theatre premises. Abhinav Kumar, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), said, “We received many complaints of smoking inside the cinema hall and it creates a nuisance for the audience. We will strictly deal with it and allow smoking in intervals and outside the cinema halls only”. The SSP has directed the Circle Officer (CO) of city to conduct a meeting with the management of all cinema houses in this regard and give important instructions against the menace. “If the given instructions are not followed, we will penalise the audience and the cinema owner found guilty. During our anti-smoking drive surprise checks will be conducted in cinema halls to initiate action against the erring audience and cinemas,” added Kumar.
	Foresters suggest changes in training schedule Tribune News Service Dehradun, May 22 The two-day workshop of the Central Academy of State Forest Service College ended today with senior foresters suggesting making necessary changes in the training schedule taking into account the changing forestry needs of the time. At the initiative of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and assisted by the Directorate of Forest Education, the workshop discussed at length the challenges before forestry officers, particularly in the wake of changed forestry scenario of the country. AR Chadda, Deputy Inspector-General, Forests Minister of Environment and Forests, said the rising cases of man-animal conflicts and illegal organised felling today stood as major challenge to the State Forest Service (SFS). P Thapliyal, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Himachal Pradesh, recalled how monkey menace became a part of the agenda for political parties in the Himachal elections resulting in the governance being forced to take necessary measures. SN Trivedi, Chief Conservator of Forests, Jharkhand, and Yutuka Kawashima, from JICA, Japan, were other prominent speakers on the occasion. A day earlier, RD Jakati, Director-General, Indian Gandhi National Forest Academy, inaugurating the training workshop said the workshop would be of immense benefit to understand contemporary forestry training needs, the challenges involved and further formulating an action plan for improving the service training for the SFS officers. “The outcome of the conference will certainly help us in improving the training patterns and modules for SFS officers,” Jakati has observed. In all, 16 participants took part in the two-day training workshop.
	Health Dept off mission targets Neena Sharma Tribune News Service Dehradun, May 22 The State Health Department has failed to constitute the Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS) at primary health centres (PHCs), thereby failing to fulfil the goals of decentralised planning and community participation as envisaged in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). These samitis directly supervise the upkeep of big hospitals and health centres, advising on the upgrade of facilities and initiating measures that are patient friendly. But due to delay in the constitution of samitis at PHCs, there is poor degree of accountability and even up gradation of facilities have not taken place. Admitting delay in the creation of the samitis even after a severe reprimand by the Centre, the state government has only decided to take steps for it’s creation by the end of this year. “Once the samitis are created they will function independently and will get Rs 1 lakh per year under the NRHM,” said Dr CP Arya, DG (Health). Usually members of the samitis are from local Panchayati Raj institutions, NGOs, local elected representatives and officials from the government sectors who are responsible for proper functioning and management of the hospital, community health centres and PHCs. “Their main role is to oversee the funds for smooth functioning and maintaining the quality of services at the hospitals,” said Dr Arya. These committees get seed money from the NRHM to the tune of Rs 5 lakh per year and in the times to come may be so strengthened so as to even give incentives to the doctors and not be dependent on the government on budget allocation. Experts point out that the system would be truly centralised if the Jan Sunwas are held regularly at the district level and people’s complaints addressed. The samitis are also responsible for ensuring accountability of the public health providers to the community. Upgrade and modernise the health services provided by the hospital and any associated outreach services and above all supervise and implementation of the National Health Programmes. Even the private organisations offering services such as MRI, CAT SCAN are permitted to set up their units within the hospital premises in return for providing their services at a rate fixed by the samitis and the user charge so collected goes to them.