Dehradun, July 23
A high drama prevailed at the office of the chairman of the Uttarakhand Police Complaint Authority when members of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and the organisations of ex-servicemen created ruckus to press for the demands of the institution’s employees who are on a strike.

They allegedly abused, misbehaved and attempted to beat up the chairman of the authority chief in his office.

Matter became so serious that the police force and the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) had to be called to pacify the agitators following the heated arguments between chairman Sambhunath Srivastav, a retired judge, and the protesters.

Later, Srivastav lodged a complaint in the Nehru police station against about 12 persons for allegedly threatening, abusing and creating ruckus on his office premises.

Srivastav said: “The people who came to my office didn’t seem to be associated with some political party, but had non-social element in them. They tried to beat me up and even broke the office property”.

“They were about 70 to 80 in numbers and particularly BK Agarwal and Kusum Nautiyal are responsible. Later, the members of the Police Compliant Authority also joined them and the members are the ones who instigated the all against me,” the chairman further alleged.

Whereas the authority members and employees said the UKD and the ex-servicemen had come to submit memorandum to the chairman seeking fulfilment of employees’ demands and rejoining of them.

They said the chairman insulted the ex-servicemen, which raged them. Suspended employee Raj Kumar Gosain later also entered the office of the chairman alleging that he was asked to do domestic work of the former, besides going with him for his private visits to Delhi.

Other employees also alleged the chairman of suspending them without any prior notice and reason. “One member or an employee could be against him (chairman) how can all staff is against him. There must be something wrong on his part,” said a member of the authority.

Haridwar, July 23
Besides being one of the largest and populated districts in whole Uttarakhand, Haridwar district has the highest number of people under the below poverty line (BPL) category.

And so keeping in this mind, the authorities concerned have decided to cover Haridwar district along with four others under the national insurance scheme, “Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana (RSBY).

Notably, the insurance scheme is already implemented in two districts of the state and it envisages to cover all 13 districts of the hilly state.

In 2008, the insurance scheme was started in Dehradun and Uddham Singh Nagar in the very first phase of the scheme. In Dehradun alone 18,030 BPL families were covered while in Uddham Singh Nagar 36,011 such families were issued smart cards under the yojana.

Encouraged with the success of this scheme and tens of thousands of BPL families getting benefited, now in five more districts people under below poverty line will be availing benefits of this national scheme.

Today, the insurance scheme was launched in Haridwar. In the coming days it will be started in districts of Pauri Garhwal, Nainital, Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal.

It is pertinent to mention here that Uttarakhand has a total BPL family population of 623,790 while Haridwar has the most number of these numbering at 91,927 of the five districts wherein the national insurance policy is being launched. The number of BPL families living in Pauri Garwhal stands at 60,909, Nainital 43,797, Rudraprayag 25,295 and Tehri Garhwal 62,308.

Speaking to The Tribune, Dr Saroj Naithani, state circle programme officer, RYSB, said people below poverty line in the state didn’t have easy access to medical facilities specially if they suffered from serious disease and herein the insurance scheme provided them the access to medical facilities.

When asked what’s the difference between this scheme and the previously failed policies such as Sarvabhaumik Swasthya Bima Yojana, Dr Saroj said previous insurance schemes and policies failed due to their complicated procedure while the RSYB had been well equipped with technical access like usage of smart cards and pitching in full-time mediators who would be the bridge between government and the beneficiaries, herein the BPL families.

Under the RSYB, five persons of the BPL family, including the family head, is provided a cashless facility of Rs 30,000. The medical treatment facility will be provided at panelled medical centres with a constant minimum fee for normal medical treatment.

For implementing the scheme effectively, United India Insurance has been hired which will be carrying out nomination process, affiliation with hospitals and all-related processes. Help of ASHA workers is also being sought to effectively reach out to the BPL families in remote villages too.

Dehradun, July 23
Seeking prompt redressal to their issues, the Tanzim Rahnumaye Millat today staged a massive demonstration at the Dehradun District Headquarters.

Led by Nabi Azad Uttarakhand President Tanzim Rahnumaye Millat, the demonstrators submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the district authorities.

The five-point memorandum primarily sought 15 per cent reservation for Muslims in government jobs taking into account the socio-economic backwardness in the community.

It also called for immediate filling up of 345 vacant posts of Urdu teacher. Set up of the Minorities Welfare Finance and Development Corporation, Madrasa Board and Urdu Library were some other demands raised by the Tanzim in the memorandum. 

Haridwar July 23
With property worth crores of rupees getting damaged in the rains, the affected residents of the city have been demanding immediate compensation for their losses. Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik has assured the rain-affected people of appropriate compensation from the government. Apart from ordinary citizens, slum dwellers and vendors too are demanding compensation for their losses due to the rain.

The Congress party too has come forward in support of the affected people specially those living in slums and temporary colonies. The Congress party along with the affected people has brought out a rally to press for the demand of compensation.

Demanding instant payment with detailed analysis of the property loss the state Congress women cell secretary Vimla Pandey said the compensation must be allocated soon as most of the affected people belong to poor section of society and are daily wagers.

“Their demand is justified and the state government as well as the administration is responsible for providing poor infrastructure which aggravated the situatin. Due compensation should be given as soon as possible as the genuine cases could be figured out. More the delay, more the possibility of corruption in the allocation of compensation,” stated Pandey.

Affected people rallied through the city streets voicing for compensation demand finally gathering at city magistrate office. A memorandum was also submitted to the city magistrate regarding this matter.

Haridwar, July 23
The residents of Shivalik Nagar living in danger as the dry riverbed passing adjacent to the colony has made inroads into the embankment wall which acts as a safety wall of colony from the seasonal river.

Citing lurking danger, residents have appealed to the district administration to look into the matter immediately as another heavy rain may completely break the dam wall. Due to the intrusion of water mudslide is also being observed in the area in a large quantity.

As the houses, particularly phase-IV, are situated at barely 10-metre distance from the embankment, the danger seems imminent to the colony residents as mudslide was still reported this afternoon though there was no rain.

Notably, the BHEL House Development Committee has carried out the construction work of the safety wall but the residents complain that the wall has not been fully made at phase-IV which has resulted in water intrusion easily fostering mudslide.

Residents of the colony rued that despite repeated reminders nothing had been done from the administration side and the families were living under fear as the concrete wall could collapse anytime.

Raj Narayan, a colony resident, said continuous rain for the past few days had increased the problems of the residents manifold.

Dehradun, July 23
A meeting of stakeholders for the ONGC’s green building project was organised at the site of the proposed Subir Raha Bhawan at Tel Bhawan, Dehradun.

Addressing the meeting, RK Kaul, ONGC Chief Engineer (Civil), discussed the technological features to be incorporated in the new building. He pointed out that the buildings consumed 72 per cent of the total energy consumption in the USA and with the growth in services sector the scenario in India would also undergo a similar change. The development of the green buildings is an effort on the part of the ONGC management to recognise the importance of energy efficiency, climate change and occupancy comfort.

Charu Gupta, consultant for CDM process, gave an introduction on climate change and CDM process in mitigation of the green house gases. He also complimented the ONGC for the development of the CDM project in a sector which was not directly related to the core business of the company.

Earlier, Raj Kumar, ONGC DGM (Civil), welcomed the stakeholders and discussed the salient features of the project. Shantanu Dasgupta and Vivek of Carbon Management Group discussed the importance of the stakeholders meet in the CDM process and various initiatives taken by the ONGC in this regard.

The stakeholders were appreciative of the efforts made by the ONGC in reducing the green house gases emission and the proactive role being played in climate change process.

Dehradun, July 23
National General Secretary of the BJP Thavar Chand Gehlot has been made BJP in chage for Uttarakhand. The announcement to this regard was made today.

A former Chief Minister of the state, Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), has been made BJP in charge for Tamil Nadu and BJP national vice-president Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has been appointed in charge for Jharkhand.

BJP Uttarakhand state Media Advisory Committee’s vice-president Ajendra Ajay has expressed happiness over all three appointments. He said appointment of Gehlot would led to strengthening of the party in Uttarakhand state.

Dehradun, July 23
The protesters of the Uttarakhand Rajasva Karmchari Mahasangh staged a dharna in favour to press their demands at the collectorate office here today. The agitators shouted slogans against the district administration while boycotting the work at their office.

According to Govind Singh Negi, president of the federation, said in the meeting held with the administration on July 15, it had already promised to fulfil the demands of the agitators during the meeting held before but nothing had been materialised yet.

To press their demands on the administration the employees of the Revenue Department were on strike today and have given a memorandum to the authority.

In their memorandum the protesters demanded better pay and perks to the employees. The agitators have also demanded of calling off the probe into the matter of the suspended employees.

With regularisation the posts of the employees, promotion orders of the awaiting members and setting up a structure of the departmental workforce.

Pitthoragarh, July 23
Three persons, including one woman, were detected as being HIV positive in the remote villages of Dharchula sub-division of Pitthoragarh district.

“During a health awakening week, we took blood samples of 139 people. Three samples, including that of one woman, were found HIV positive,” said Dr DK Srivastava, Medical Officer deputed at PHC, Dharchula.

Experts and consultants at the district headquarters do not see this incidents as big one. “We have more than 100 patients who are HIV positive in the district and under our consultation in the district,” said Deep Chandra Pant, a consultant at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) at the district hospital in Pitthoragarh.

However, the consultants agreed that the menace of AIDS is gradually increasing in the district.

“In 2004 when the centre was opened in the district, we had only two or three HIV positive cases. The number has gone beyond 100 now,” said the consultant at the ICTC.

“The number of patients under our consultation is a small fraction of the actual HIV positive persons in the district because most patients do not reveal the disease or come for consultation,” said Pant adding that the figure of unknown HIV positive patients in the district may be nearing a thousand.

According to LS Tolia, Chief Medical Officer, Pitthoragarh, the district has almost the complete facility for the testing and counselling of AIDS.

“We have the ICTC at the men’s hospital at the district headquarters under which the ante-natal care unit of the ‘prevention from parents to child transmission centre’ is also functioning at the ladies hospital in the district,” said the CMO.

According to experts at the counselling centre, Pitthoragarh district is in third position as far as the spread of HIV positive cases is concerned.

“Most persons, who have been infected with HIV, conceal it and start treatment for other diseases like tuberculosis and jaundice which they also develop simultaneously. They die of AIDS but attribute it to other diseases. This tendency has taken more than 10 lives in the district since 2004,” said Deep Chandra Pant.

Dehradun, July 23
A verification drive of migrants and tenants was conducted in and around Bindal area, here early this morning.

The police team led by Kotwali (City) circle officer Ajay Singh and station house officers of nearby police station area conducted the drive. Bindal area falls under the jurisdiction of the Cantt police station.

According to the police officials, the drive was conducted in Param Hans Basti, Azad Colony, Rajiv Nagar, Gobindgarh and Loharwala. A total of 310 persons were verified in today’s drive.

A form was filled and a photograph was taken of each person. The details will be sent to their respective native places to verify their antecedents.