Haridwar, June 1
A major boost was provided to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) land displaced farmers who are on an indefinite stir against the BHEL management, with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikkait) coming in support of the agitators.

A visit was paid by executive members of the Tikkait union at Roshanabad where the farmers have been agitating for the past 43 days.

Led by state general secretary Baljor Singh, the delegation assured full support to the displaced farmers union and said the district administration and BHEL management should instantly meet the demands of the agitators otherwise it would have to face serious consequences.

While the agitating union is demanding BHEL management to allot lands to the displaced farmers who gave their land to set up of the BHEL unit in Ranipur in the ’60s and ’70s. The union is demanding of providence of one job each to the family of the displaced farmers so that they can live normal life as of now they neither have land nor the jobs.

Chief of the agitating union Tilak Ram Saini thanked the support ushered by the Tikkait union and said with this in the second month of agitation a new lease of life had been put into the farmers and now they would press more strongly for their demands fulfilment.

While warning of taking the movement aggressively, Irfan Ali, general secretary of the farmers union, said if the stance of the BHEL management and district administration continued thus, they would be taking the agitation route in a more aggressive manner.

Alongside resentment was also seen among the farmer leaders over the arrest of Sanjay Chaudhari, district chief of Haridwar, by the police on charges of blocking roads as part of protesting. Unanimously, both union leaders demanded the release of Sanjay terming protests as part of democracy and if the administration carried on such acts, then the very spirit of democracy was hurt.

Among others who addressed the agitation were Chaudhari Harendra, Taufeel Ahmed, Atar Singh, Raw Achan, Rao Jahid, Balwant Saini, Anand Saini, Kushal Veer Singh, Rajendra Singh, Virendar Singh, Sunil Kumar, Fakish Khan, Chaudhari Darendra Singh Om Prakash and Vijay Kumar Shastri of the Tikkait union.

Pitthoragarh, June 1
Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor has called for a new building of the state assembly as it is nowadays housed in a comparatively small place. “When the residence for the Chief Minister and other ministers in the state can be built, why not the Assembly despite the Dixit committee report being finally out,” asked the Speaker.

The Speaker, who was on a brief visit of the district, said he wanted Uttarakhand Assembly housed in a new modern building on the lines of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa Assembly buildings which were taking full advantage of information technology in their functioning. “I want direct telecast of the functioning of Uttarakhand Assembly, but due to lack of sufficient place it is not possible at present,” said the Speaker.

Kapoor said during his tenure as a Speaker, he had tried to make the question hour meaningful during the sessions and wanted that being a new state, Uttarakhand should start a new tradition in the democratic functioning of the Assembly which could be followed by other states. He claimed that a lot had to be done in that direction.

The Speaker regretted that due to non-cooperation of members, the Assembly could not discuss the impending crisis of drinking water during budget sessions this year which had resulted in the grave drinking water crisis which the state was facing today.

Dehradun, June 1
Dehradun should be declared the capital of Uttarakhand. Vinod Barthwal, state head of Samajwadi Party (SP), stated this while addressing members of the party here today. The party members were agitating at the Gandhi Park to protest against the shortage of electricity and water.

Barthwal claimed that it had been 10 years that the Dehradun was known as interim capital and it should be declared as permanent. He said the Chief Minister should hold meetings with political parties and declare it to be the state capital.

He alleged that ministers and officials themselves wwere sitting in AC offices the whole day, but the general public and the common man did not even get the basic amenities. Instead of looking into the problems of ordinary people, the officials and ministers had limited themselves to the tourists spots like Mussoorie, Haridwar, Nainital and other religious places.

Barthwal also said the situation was really grave and nobody was doing anything to highlight or solve the problem faced by the masses on a daily basis. He said it was high time that somebody raised their voice for the betterment of the people.

Barthwal also mentioned that the law and order situation was not good over here. Officers were not going to small villages and towns, but limiting themselves to bigger towns.

Dehradun, June 1
Teaching the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) a lesson that the bureaucracy will not work under political pressure, feisty Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Abhinav Kumar chided UKD activists, including the senior-most rung of leaders who had come his office to counter him for not working speedily in the matter of threatening messages sent to their central executive Rajpal Singh.

The SSP took them to task for coming unnecessarily in large numbers and putting undue pressure on the police. He asked policemen to arrest the activists who tried to misbehave with him. The younger members felt dejected when their senior-most members BD Raturi, former state president, Latafat Hussain, Bahadur Singh Rawat, city president and many didn’t do anything to stop their arrest. The SSP gave no assurance and told them in clear terms that the police would work at its pace.

Rajpal had got four threatening messages of shooting him since May 22 if he went to the court. “I have no idea for which matter of court I am being threatened. I was about to file the PIL regarding hydro-electric scams in the court, so this could be in relation to that,” said Rajpal. He expressed displeasure with the police for not making headway even nine days after the matter was reported to the SSP.

To lend their collective support, almost all politically active faces of the UKD thronged the SSP office in large numbers and called mediapersons. They sat waiting for the officer for an hour who had gone to the police headquarters. When he returned, they tried to take on him for the alleged delay, but the officer didn’t bow down in front of the political pressure.

Haridwar, June 1
The agitation led by the Hind Rashtriya Awami Hukook for providing shelter to the poor and needy is getting more and more support, specially from women, irrespective of religious and caste segments.

What sets this agitation apart from others is that from early morning to late evening women in a disciplined and coordinated manner sit at the protest site and at no time there are less than at least a dozen women agitators there.

Women are outnumbering their male counterparts, and with the agitation reaching the 30th day today, there seems to be no effect on the spirit of the agitators. They are still daily organising address rallies and various ways of protest like effigy-burning to meeting the respective authorities.

One of the women protestors Raziya Khatoon said it was not a matter of concern for only males, as shelter was needed for the whole family and so they were quite actively taking part in the agitation.

“We as women face more problems living under the open sky or in temporary shelters. We don’t know what is the feeling of having one’s own home. But we can think, desire and struggle for a roof over us,” said Raziya.

Murslein Qureshi, founder of the Awami Hukook organisation, said the support the movement is getting is overwhelming. “Last week three women agitators fainted yet there is no lessening of spirit among the women agitators,” he added.

Among those who sat in support of the 24-hour non-stop agitation were Sanjida, Mehar Jahan, Shaira Bano, Soniya Devi, Meena Khatoon, Munsrena, Malikka, Angoori Devi and Seema Verma, aided by hundreds of people.

Mussoorie, June 1
The sleepy village of Kempty woke up to an operation undertaken by the joint team of SOG and STF police from UP when they caught two bank dacoits who were residing in Kempty after a bank dacoity committed at Muzaffarnagar one month ago.

The gang leader of the dacoits was able to escape before the arrival of the police team. The police had kept a reward Rs 50,000 on his head. According to sources, Bhoora the prized dacoit, along with his two other compatriots, Pankaj, son of Jaipal, and Paramjit, son of Jaipal, wewe living in a rented house of contractor Sabbal Singh Rana in Kempty sicne last one month.

The three perpetrators stayed in the house with their mother and kids for one month so that to avoid any kind of suspicion. The trio got the house in May till July and paid Rs 45,000 in advance. The joint task force of UP police arrived on Monday and met the owner of the house and instructed him to keep a watch on the trio and not to inform anyone. The house was raided Tuesday morning in the presence of senior officers from UP. After the dacoits were being pressurised by the flat owner for identification they began preparing to leave the place.

Meanwhile, Bhoora already left the house at night. Seeing the two dacoits trying to escape, the owner of the house Sabbal Singh informed the police. The local police, who had no inkling of about the dacoits residing in the area for one month, came to sort out the matter.

Sub Inspectoe Nautiyal of the Uttarakhand police began questioning the two. The eight-member STF and SOG team which was staying overnight at an adjacent hotel, hearing the loud altercation arrived at the flat and caught the perpetrators before they could escape. It was after the two dacoits were caught that the local police became aware of the scale of the criminals.

According to sources, the joint team from UP confiscated a large amount of cash looted from a bank at Muzaffarnagar in UP several months ago. The UP police is seeing this as its big achievement. However, the role of the local police and intelligence remains in question on why they had no idea about criminals staying at Kempty for the past one month.

The SOG team has taken the criminals along with them back to Muzaffarnagar for further questioning.

Residents are baffled at the inefficiency of the local police and said the sale and purchase of land by outsiders from Haryana and Delhi had increased in the area and most of them were not even investigated by the police.

Nainital, June 1
The Kumaon police will be laying special emphasis on trying to get the persons accused of heinous crimes convicted in courts. This was stated by RS Meena after taking over as the new Inspector General of Police for Kumaon division on Tuesday.

Expressing concern over the cases against the persons accused of serious crimes falling apart in the courts, Meena said a special list would be prepared of serious cases in every district and senior police officers would be given responsibility of following up such cases in the courts to ensure that the criminals are convicted and punished for their crimes.

“Officials of the rank of Circle Officer and above would be given the responsibility of pursuing such cases,” said Meena.

He further stated that the police officers would work towards ensuring greater synchronisation with their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh to check the incidents of crime in the areas on the border of the two states.

Meena said the emphasis would be on improving the intelligence gathering apparatus and liaison with the officers in Uttar Pradesh.

Replying to a query on keeping a check on Left wing activities in the state he said vigilance would be maintained in the areas where there was potential for such activities. He said although there was no such activity being reported on ground, yet preventive measures would be taken. “Timely action by the police in the past has checked the possibility of Left wing activities spreading in the state. People who were earlier associated with such activities will be watched constantly,” said Meena.

Referring to the policing problems on account of the ongoing tourist season, he said personnel apart from those posted in the traffic police would be deputed to maintain order during peak hours and tourism police set up would be activated in the region. He disclosed that a proposal would be sent to the administration for sanctioning the requisite number of traffic inspectors and traffic sub-inspectors.

Meena further announced that special cells would be activated for checking robbing of persons after giving them some poisonous substance by miscreants and to check the theft of mobile phones. The incidence of these activities had been on the rise in the region. He further stated that he would work towards ensuring the welfare of his force and particularly enlisted housing facilities for the police personnel as one of his priorities.

Nainital, June 1
Three girls in the region committed suicide after failing to clear their high school examination. Incidentally, all three chose to consume poisonous substances available at their houses.

In the first instance, 15-year-old Pooja of Doba village in the Koshya Kutaoli area consumed a poisonous substance at her house and later died while being treated at a hospital.

In the second instance, 17-year-old Prema of Pata village in the Madkot area of Pithoragarh also resorted to a similar measure and died while she was being transported to a hospital. In the third instance, a girl studying at Jaiti village near Almora also killed herself by consuming a poisonous substance at her house. She was shifted to a health centre at Jaiti where she died.

Dehradun, June 1
Furthering the cause of the country’s aroma sector, the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, has initiated a training programme for those linked to essential oils, perfumery and aroma therapy.

A five-day programme for those associated to essential oils, perfumer and aroma therapy began at the FRI here today. In assistance with the Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC), the programme entails detailed exposure towards fundamental and applied aspects on processing, quality assessment and therapeutic benefit of essential oils and their applications in perfumery and aroma therapy.

Dr Negi emphasised on the importance of training programmes to cater the requirements of fragrance and flavour industry. He said the entrepreneurs can take the maximum benefit from the FRI’s chemistry division expertise on essential oils and aroma therapy.

Sudhir Jain, ex-president of with the Fragrance and Flavour Association, highlighted the business opportunities in the sector. He emphasised on the need for utilising the diverse aromatic plants, amply manpower, traditional knowledge and indigenous technologies in the production and supply of essential oils and their value added products for the world market.

Dehradun, June 1
It was for the first time, senior aroma therapist, Dr Mangala Chavan, MBBS, MS from Zorastrian College of Mumbai, was felicitated. Dr Dipti, Director, Rakasana Health Institute, was also present.

She has been instrumental in giving training to Alpana Mohan, Payal, Sujata Sharma and Radha Raturi in mixing oils and treating patients on the psychological level also.

Dr Dipti said aroma therapy was proving wonderful in treating malaise related to stress in today’s hectic lifestyle.

For this people should take consultancy from experts only, she added.

Dr Dipti has been treating patients of migraine, herpes, rhuematoid, insomnia for the past 15 years.

Nainital, June 1
Four persons were killed in a late night road accident near Haldwani yesterday. The accident occurred when some people were returning after participating in a marriage celebration in

a four-wheeler that collided head-on with a truck coming from the other direction on the Rampur road. The deceased include a couple Gobind Ballabh Chandola and Madhvi Chandola, while their son Jagdish Chandra Chandola was admitted to a hospital in a serious condition. The family hails from Bageshwar and was residing in Pantnagar.

The driver of the four-wheeler identified as Aspal of Badayun in Uttar Pradesh died on the spot. Another deceased was yet to be identified.

The four-wheeler had hit the approaching truck while it was reportedly going on the wrong side. The victims were immediately transported to Sushila Tewari Hospital by 108 Ambulance.

The police had a great problem getting them identified. It was only with the help of other participants at the said marriage that they could be identified.

Mussoorie, June 1
One person was killed and three were injured when a tractor-trailer loaded with construction material overturned and fell into a deep gorge near the Yamuna bridge on the Dibogi-Hathipaon road today.

Madan Uniyal, son of Ram Bharosey, resident of Gairimafi district, Tehri Garhwal, was declared brought dead.

Gopal Singh, of Nepal, Arjan Singh of Balbahdur, and Deepak from Nepal are being treated at the Vikas Nagar Government Hospital.