Haridwar, June 11
The ongoing Auxiliary Nurses and Midwives (ANM) health workers strike has caused a direct affect on the health of the infants, as due to the strike they are not getting treatment at the hospitals and health centres.

For more than a week people go bare handed as the workers citing their demands are remaining bereft of any work and infants are bearing the brunt with no basic-routine injections and medication being available at the health centres.

Perturbed parents can be seen waiting for the nurses at the centres, but to no avail, as the workers are on strike for consecutive 10th day. Under the aegis of the Matra-Sishu Parivar Kalyan Mahila Karmachari Association the women health employees are demanding a consistent and higher pay grade.

District chief of the union Sushma Dhyani justified their demand relating to their hard and noble work. Dhyani put the onus on the state government for showing no sensitivity towards the workers.

“We have to take the agitational route only after several attempts and symbolic protests. The Chief Minister should instantly intervene into this matter. Earlier, on mere assurances government urged us to backtrack but now we are determined to take the fight to its end,” said Dhyani.

Meanwhile, the union has warned of taking the agitation further with rallies and memorandums on the anvil to take forward their demand. 

Mussoorie, June 11
The accounts of one of the richest Nagar Palika in Mussoorie have been seized by the administration due to non-payment of electricity bills since June 7, pending since the formation of Uttarakhand, bringing the working of Palika to standstill. This is not happening for the first time, the accounts were seized before in the month of March too. Then the matter was resolved between the Electricity Department and Palika by postponing the payments. But as the pressure increased on the Electricity Department on recovering the pending bills they sent the notice to Palika, which they failed to comply with, and SDM the had directed the officials to seize the accounts of the Palika till the time the full amount is not paid to the concerned department.

According to the Revenue Department, Dehradun, the accounts will be opened only after some settlement is reached between the two departments namely Palika and Electricity Department. With this seizure of the accounts all financial activities have been stalled and all the payments have been stopped till further notice.

According to the Electricity Department EE AS Jauhar, they had served several notices to Palika to recover Rs 1.10 crore arrears but it failed to respond after which they had to approach the administration for initiating some action. He also said they were not interested in hampering working of Palika but the arrears have to be recovered on urgent basis.

The Account Department’s officials of Palika confirmed under anonymity that the accounts have been seized and were facing immense difficulty in expediting the financial matters. They also said efforts were on to resolve the matter. However, none from Palika was available to speak on the matter and efforts were discreetly on to solve it with the department concerned.

According to Mussoorie Hotel Association Spokesperson Sandeep Sahni it was unfortunate that the historic and one of the richest Palika in the country was facing such a crisis and this matter should be resolved soon and Palika should assure that peak tourist season is not affected due to this deadlock.

Former Mussoorie Palika president Manmohan Singh Mall said Palika should take the responsibility for this situation and why it was not able to resolve it in last 4 days from the day the accounts were seized.” He further said several offices and institution like MPG College are run by it and if the electricity is cut due to non-payment the residents and tourist will suffer immensely. The residents of the town are of the view that the Palika has lot of money for construction of roads lying at far end of the town but not before the paying the arrears.

Ram Prasad the senior citizen also said that this situation has arisen due to careless attitude of the Palika where the streets lights are left on during the daytime. Tribune has learnt that EO Mussoorie Ramesh Semwal and other officials were trying to resolve the matter under close doors without even knowledge of certain Palika members.

Dehradun, June 11
Uttrakhand Rajya Andalonkari Sanyukt Manch today submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank demanding immediate constitution of Subordinate Services Commission for the welfare of the youth.

Members of the Manch, wearing black badges and carrying placards agitated near the Secretariat in support of their demands.

They appreciated the move by the state government to suspend recruitment for the Class IV posts through Public Service Commission. They also demanded action against the employees of the service commission responsible for wrong results on the Internet.

Hari Bhandari, President of Nav Bharat Sangh said they welcome the decision of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister to discontinue the sale of application forms for various posts of state government that were advertised by state public service commission on May 29 this year. He said there was an urgent need to constitute Subordinate Services Commission for Class III and IV posts in the state.

The Chief Minister had on Wednesday halted the selection process of 337 posts in 16 categories for Class IV after an uproar over denial of job opportunities to local youth. He had also constituted a high-level committee to look into the allegations. The committee headed by the Chief Secretary would give its report within 15 day.

Vijesh Nivani, Om Prakash Satti, former President of DAV college students’ organidation, Sushila Dhyani, President Kaushalaya Dabral Sangharsh Wahini also participated in the agitation today.

Dehradun, June 11
Fed up with the rising number of loot and theft incidents outside city banks, the Dehradun police, led by SP (City), conducted a checking operation in all banks.

The SP, along with all three circle officers and force, conducted the checking drive. The police took stock of various discrepancies in security, and directed the bank authorities to mend these.

At some branches of banks there were no proper security arrangements, while in some security alarms were not working.

Nainital, June 11
To generate awareness about the flagship programmes of the Indian government, a public awareness campaign, Bharat Nirman, will be organised at Bhawali from June 14 to June 16.

The event is being organised by various units of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry like the Directorate of Field Publicity, Song and Drama Division, Doordarshan, Aakashwani and the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

During these three days people from the areas around Nainital will be apprised of the various public welfare schemes being run by the Centre and how they can benefit from these. Schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Mid-Day Meal, Right to Information, Prime Minister’s 15 Point Programme for Welfare of Minorities, etc, will be discussed and people will be encouraged to raise whatever queries they have in mind with regards to these schemes.

Deputy Director of the PIB in Dehradun Prakash Thapliyal said this was the eighth such event to be held in Uttarakhand state under the media outreach strategy of his ministry while more than 300 similar programmes had already been held across the country.

He said besides the formal dissemination of information about these schemes, people would also be made aware about these through cultural and folk presentations.

Dehradun, June 11
The deadlock on the strike of sanitation workers of the Mohalla Swachhta Smiti of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation did not break off even on fourth day. The workers decided to continue their strike till they get written assurance from the state government. The other wing of sanitation workers, Uttranchal Swackkar Karamchari Sangh, too, came in the support of protesting employees and gave a memorandum to Mayor Vinod Chamoli.

The Mayor too for the first time spoke his mind on the matter and said, “The committee system of these sanitation workers created way back in 2003-04 to collect garbage from each household has failed in its objective for which it was created. Half of the amount of their wages Rs 1,300 was to be paid by the Municipal Corporation (MC) and half by the residents of the area collectively. The MC continued to give its bit, rather increased it up to Rs 2,000, but residents did not pay their portion. The garbage part of the plan too got shelved on the way”.

Chamoli rejected the demand of regularising these employees. “These employees were deputed under the committee system for a specific project, so there is no question of regularising them. Even assuring of absorbing them as and when vacancies arise is also impractical. Such decisions are taken only at the state government level.”

He also found the allegation made by strikers that a part of their wages were grabbed by supervisors and councillors saying that, “These workers are paid through cheques, so there is no possibility of any kind of tempering with their wages. Only Rs 200 is deducted for the equipment.”

Union leader Chander Mohan Kala said Assistance Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat refused to give them any written assurance saying that the matter can only be decided by the state government. Therefore, they decided to wait for the reply before calling off their strike.

Dehradun, June 11
With an intension to open the eyes and press their demands on the administration, agitated employees of the State Ayurvedic and Unani Medicine Department, begged for their justice in front of the Vidhan Sabha and the Directorate, Ayurveda, here today. Annoyed at the negligence of the state government on their pending demands, deplorable employees dressed like paupers were beseeching alms in order to approach with their plea in the high court.

The protesters, who are left unemployed for the past three years, are suffering from great financial crisis. They have threatened the administration to take immediate action into their favour or else they would immolate themselves, along with their families, on June 15.

Two agitators, Rajendra Singh and Chandra Bhushan, are fasting unto death and are in a critical state. They have appealed the administration to do justice to them.

Since, Dr Pooja Bhardwaj, Director of the Ayurvedic and Unani Medicine Directorate, was not available, another official said, “The directorate has already begun with the procedure and the matter is pending in the court”. 

Haridwar June 11
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ambavat) unit has called on for unity among farmers and their representative unions. Farmer leader and chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union Chaudhari Ambavat addressed the national convention of the union and said if all farm unions come under one banner or be in alliance then they can easily press forward in view of the problems and demands of farmers.

Citing example of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Ambavat stated that the time is ripe for all the farmers and their units to come under one banner and press forward the demands in a strong manner.

“Joint alliance is the need of the hour for farmers as differences over opinions and power control has devalued the power of farmers in agricultural based country. I am ready to form or be a part of any such alliance which voices, works for farm community and bring together farmers under one roof,” said Ambavat.

While speaking as the chief guest all-India spokesman for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Dr Prakash Jawadekar on Ambavat’s stance said farmer leaders irrespective of their affiliation should focus on only farmer community development. He said India is an agricultural dominated nation yet the very farmers are living under utter poverty and depression.

Criticising the Congress-led UPA alliance at the Centre Dr Jawadekar who is also upper house parliamentarian said the UPA is not able to protect the rights of farmers and pointed that only in the BJP led states farmers are given their due respect.

He cited various incidents in different parts of country where farmers committed suicides due to government’s apathy. He voiced that only by development of farmers India can in real sense become a developed country and also advocated for spread of education and information technology in village and rural areas as need of the hour.

The convention saw several issues-problems related with farmers being put up in the agenda. Uttarakhand chief BKU Rao Irshad highlighted local people being not given jobs in the industrial establishments operating in the state. He said as majority of land is taken away from farmers and their families are not getting jobs.

Dehradun, June 11
The Employees of the Educational Ministerial Officers Association, who were staging a protest at the Directorate of Education, called off their strike last night. General secretary of the association Ummed Singh Bisht, who was on a fast unto death, was given juice by State Education Director Pushpa Manas.

She asked the agitators to resume their work, as the directorate would declare first list of the promotions of the affected ministerial officers within one week while the second list would be initiated in July.

The association had been staging the protest at the directorate for four days to pressing for their demands that included timely promotions, regularisation of the posts of all ministerial officers and removing irregularities in their pay scales. Other major demands of the association are convenience allowances to the employees of the Uttarakhand School Education Board, Ramnagar, Nainital, within 180 days on the pattern of the Uttar Pradesh government.

It is pertinent to mention that earlier the association had a meeting with Education Department officials on May 17 regarding their promotions. They had been on strike since June 6 when Bisht decided to sit on a fast unto death to press the state government for fulfilling their demands.

Bisht said: “The administration had already issued the order of regularisation of educational ministerial officers on August 5, 2009, but none of the assurances given by the officials was met by them.”