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Reviving public faith priority of new UKD president
Party’s Central office-bearers sworn in
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Harek Singh Rawat’s nephew in lockup for rash driving
Govindacharya slams BJP working; blames chief
Rajiv Gandhi sena lambasts BJP for ignoring people’s interests
Dhanai is Mussoorie Cong chief
Staff at KV-2 getting salaries irregularly
2 more held in connection with yarsa gumba trade
DM asks banks to adopt villages
Industrialists major tax evaders: Chief IT Commissioner
118 cultural troupes to participate in competitions
Artistes perform at a selection competition organised by the Information Department in Dehradun on Tuesday. — A Tribune photograph
22 security management students get placement
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Reviving public faith priority of new UKD president
Nainital, July 28 Panwar will have to ensure that the party’s tally, which stands at a meager three seats in the present Assembly, goes up if the UKD wants to be a key player in the state politics in the times to come. Ironically, while the regional parties across the nation have been making electoral gains over the past two decades, the UKD’s fortunes have been sliding down. Having contested all five Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 Parliamentary polls, the party had fared miserably. After his unanimous election as the new President, Panwar has once again aired the party’s resolve to get the permanent capital of the state established at Gairsain. However, despite being an emotional issue that has its genesis from the times when the demand for a separate state was raised, it has failed to click with the masses as an electoral platform. The UKD, which has been most vocal in raising the demand for establishing a permanent capital at Gairsain, has failed to galvanise mass support on the issue and has itself failed to score electoral gains from the Gairsain region itself. Much to its annoyance, even the much-awaited Justice Virender Dixit report on demarcating a permanent capital for Uttarakhand submitted before the state Assembly last year has rejected Gairsain on several counts. The report brought out a comparative feasibility study on five probable cities that included Dehradun, Gairsain, Kashipur, Ramnagar and IDPL Rishikesh. The existing interim capital of Dehradun with a possibility of developing into a twin city was found as the most appropriate place. The UKD was quick to reject the report outright. However, the main issue faced by Panwar and the party is continuing of its support to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state whose popularity graph is going downhill consistently. Although senior UKD leader Diwakar Bhatt, who is also a cabinet minister in the government, did not refrain from recounting the benefits of being in the government at the party’s convention in Ramnagar on Sunday, party cadres want the UKD to part ways with the BJP if it wants to maintain its independent identity in the state. Panwar incidentally is seen close to Bhatt. Senior party leader and Panwar’s predecessor Narayan Singh Jantwal when asked about the issue told The Tribune, “The issue will be discussed at the party meetings in the days to follow.” The second-rung leadership of the UKD had squarely blamed the continuing support of the party to BJP in the state Assembly for the dismal performance of party in the last Parliamentary polls. All the five candidates fielded by the UKD after the party could not have a pre-poll alliance with the BJP had lost their deposits. Under pressure from the party cadre, Bhatt had resigned from the ministerial post held by him just before the polls. However, he had not campaigned for his party citing ill health as the reason for doing so. With all candidates of the UKD losing their deposits, the party graph hit an all-time low. The vote share of the UKD had dipped from polling 43,899 in the 2004 general elections to 38,100 in 2009 Parliamentary election. The party’s alignment with the BJP has been seen as suicidal by several party cadres. With the morale of its workers at a low, Panwar will have to chalk out a plan to galvanise them. The UKD leaders have announced that they will be descending to the village level to gain mass support for the party that claims to be the sole representative of the aspirations of the people of the hills. Established on July 25, 1979, to fight for a separate state composed of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh, the UKD has had stalwarts like Dr DD Pant as its founder President. It has had leaders like Kashi Singh Airy, BD Raturi and JS Bisht in its fold who spearheaded the movement for creation of Uttarakhand. Old timers feel that the party’s resolve to give up its role as the flag-bearer to become a part of Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti for creation of Uttarakhand coupled with its decision to boycott the 1994 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls also proved to be counter productive in the long run. |
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Party’s Central office-bearers sworn in
Dehradun, July 28 Pawar was sworn in by veteran leader BD Raturi. Newly elected AP Juwal, acting Central vice-president, Anand Silmana, Central treasurer, and Jagdish Chauhna, general secretary, too were sworn in. While addressing the media, Pawar said the foremost objective of his party would be to capture the power 2012. “Being the only regional party, which played a pivotal role in facilitating statehood, it has all the right to make government in the state. We will make sure that we get majority in 2012 or see to it that no party could ascend power without our support.” He said he was going to strengthen the party at the grass-roots level. Pointing out the growing indiscipline in the party, he said a strict action would be taken against those who would indulge in indiscipline and a progress report of the party would be taken after every three months. He targeted the BJP and the Congress for using the UKD for their vested interests. “We want to remind the BJP government to abide by the ethics of a coalition government and take notice of its allies. The BJP must consider all nine points we had put forth to it while entering into an alliance with it.” Pawar reiterated his party’s agenda to shift state capital to Gairsain saying, “85 per cent of the state is formed of hills so the only possible justice we can give to its people is by making Gairsain the permanent capital of the state.” |
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Harek Singh Rawat’s nephew in lockup for rash driving
Dehradun, July 28 CO Premender Dobal slapped the student and sent him to the lockup after the latter allegedly hit him with his car and misbehaved. The incident occurred this morning during the college campaign rally. Amit’s car had left DAV College and was on its way when it allegedly hit the CO. When the CO questioned him for rash driving, rather than pleading guilty, Rawat misbehaved with the officer saying that he was a nephew of Harek Singh Rawat. This perturbed Dobal, who allegedly slapped him and locked him up in the police post. Congress workers and leaders tried to build pressure on the police officer to leave Amit. But the police officer didn’t bow to that. Setting a right example, he didn’t leave Amit even after some local leaders came to his office requesting for his release. The CO stuck to his stand that Amit should be left in the lockup for a few hours to make him realise his fault. |
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Govindacharya slams BJP working; blames chief
Haridwar, July 28 On the issue of hydel power projects, he stated the Ganga was not confined to a state or one nation, but was an international issue, thus its sanctity should be maintained. Govindacharya, also founder of the Rashritya Swabhiman Andolan, was speaking at Matra Sadan late last evening lending his support to the agitation being undertaken by noted environmentalist Prof GD Aggarwal and Matra Sadan saints against the hydro power projects coming up in hilly districts of the state on the holy river Ganga and its tributaries. Terming the issue as a matter of national pride, Govindacharya said the Ganga was a national river having immense religious-mythological significance and it should not be fiddled with in the name of development, power, employment and money. Taking a dig at Gadkari, Govindacharya said the former seemed to be uncomfortable at the post and if a party president was uncomfortable, how could he address the problems of party workers. Ganga Maha Sabha general secretary Acharya Jitendra accompanied the veteran RSS leader and advocated the closure of hydro power projects on the Ganga. |
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Rajiv Gandhi sena lambasts BJP for ignoring people’s interests
Mussoorie, July 28 Addressing a large gathering at the Mission Compound, he said people were grieved by the working of the present state government. The ministers were only interested in filling their own coffers and had forgotten the people who voted them in power. People of the state were struggling for their basic rights that had been subdued by the BJP government in the state. All development works had come to a standstill and corruption was at an all-time high under the present state government. Speaking about the minorities, specifically Christians, he said the community was always a strong bastion of the Congress and the need of felicitating them from time to time was important. Rathi lamented the fact that residents were facing acute water crisis, but the authorities concerned were sitting idle even after several reminders which would not be tolerated at any cost. He also informed that the Rajiv Gandhi Sena would be organising a huge demonstration at Dehradun soon so that the government was awakened from slumber. The sena also nominated officials in Barlowganj. Rathi speaking to The Tribune said the expansion of the organisation was on and most of the units had been formed in the state. Work was continuing in Pitthoragarh at the moment. He also said the people had made up their mind to elect the Congress government in 2012 elections. State general secretary Vikas Chauhan, district secretary Alka Devi, Abul Majid, Anil Kumar, Mohsin Siddiqui, Furkan Ansari, Julieur Anthony, Kishan Jones, Anil George, Jeniffer Julieur, Rajan, Vijay, R Mathew, Mauris, Bazele Das, Lawrence Anthony, Sandhya Sarish, Sunita, Rajeshwari Singh, Pushpa George, Uma Devi, Mohammed Zulfikar and others were present on
the occasion. |
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Dhanai is Mussoorie Cong chief
Mussoorie, July 28 The election of Mall and Gunsola as PCC members of Mussoorie and Dhanolty was indicative of the fact that both were frontrunners for the respective MLA seats in the coming elections in 2012. Dhanai said the party should strive to garner maximum eats in the 2012 elections. Youth Congress president Shalendar Bisht, Mahila Congress president Bharosi Rawat, Amit Kaintura, Rais Khan and others were present on the occasion. |
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Staff at KV-2 getting salaries irregularly
Dehradun, July 28 The school has a total of 50 teaching and the non-teaching staff whose annual salary budget comes of Rs 2 crore approximately. The school is one of the oldest schools among other units of Kendriya Vidyalaya in the city and has a strength of over 900 students. About 45 per cent of the students are children of Survey of India employees, the rest are from middle-class and weaker sections. “The problem of irregular payment of salary has been continuing for the past two years, but the condition became worse when we received the salary for October and November in December and the payment for April and May was made in the last week of June,” complained a schoolteacher at KV-2. The school is a ‘Project School’ and the Survey of India, Dehradun, is the official sponsor of KV-2 and offers recurring expenditure. The Survey of India is under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, and gets all its expenses from the ministry. Another teacher who has been facing hardship due to the late payment of salary held the sponsors responsible. “Due to irregular salary payments, I do not pay instalments of my housing loan regularly. The bank has started penalising me for the late payment of EMI,” he asserted. The administration of the school alleged that the sponsors were running away from their responsibilities as they had not informed the school about their problems. Despite sending several letters to the ministry and the Survey of India, neither body has been able to decipher the reason for the crunch. The absence of a permanent Survey General is also adding to the problem. The Survey of India had signed a contract on April 21, 1981, promising to take care of all recurring expenditures of the school. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) also states that the Survey of India would provide land and building to the school and would bear all maintenance expenses, but ironically, the main school building has not been whitewashed since its construction eight years ago. Major Gen Manoj Tayal, officiating Survey General of the Survey of India, refuted the allegations of late payment of salaries. “The department and the ministry are taking good care of the entire process of releasing recurring funds to the institution. There is a particular wing in the ministry that takes care of this process”. “Some ups and downs are always there, but the department is providing funds to the school administration according to their annual budget requirement,” asserted Tayal. The administration of the school and the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has written to Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resources and Education, in this regard.
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Jyoti Pandey takes charge as DGP
Dehradun, July 28 The 1976 IPS batch officer was earlier serving as the ADG (Technical Services) in the state. He succeeded Subhash Joshi, who was relived from his duty at the Centre after the alleged beating of a BJP MLA. Meanwhile, ADG (Administration) Vijay Raghav Pant was holding the charge of the acting DGP. Speaking to mediapersons after taking the charge of the DGP post, Pandey said, “To protect human rights will be a big challenge. To control crime and maintain peace in the region will be my first priority with not letting the violations of human rights done”. He also pointed out that any police station in the state would not be assessed on the basis of number of FIRs registered, but on what action had been taken on the complaints received. On the Maoists and terrorism in the state, the new DGP said, “Any little report of the Maoists which were reported in the past were curbed. The police is keeping strict eye on these activities. There is no need of worry in this regard in the state”.
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2 more held in connection with yarsa gumba trade
Pitthoragarh, July 28 “The two traders were carrying the money taken from a Tibetan trader in Delhi. Karchun Thukuri had paid them the money in advance to purchase 25 kg of yarsa gumba,” said SP Nilesh Aanand Bharare. “As it is not evident that the traders were going to violate Section 26 of the Forest Act, they are being charged under Section 41-102 of the IPC for carrying the money,” said the SP. Income Tax officers were also questioning the arrested traders under various economic offences, he added. It is the fourth incidence of arrest for illegal trade of this Himalayan miracle drug which costs Rs 3 lakh per kg at the national market, but extraction of which has not been legalised by the Uttarakhand government. Clinics run by quacks sealed
Nainital: In a raid conducted by the local administration, 12 clinics being run by quacks in Haldwani have been sealed. The raids were carried out under City Magistrate Shirish Kumar yesterday in Vanbhoolpura and the Rajpura areas following the complaints of a large number of quacks setting up shop and misleading people into coughing up money for treatment. Raids were conducted at 14 clinics and only two of the practising doctors were found to be possessing genuine degrees, licence and other proof of their qualifications. A large number of the quacks fled from the area on coming to know of the raids. Practitioners did not have relevant medical qualification and in certain cases practitioners having qualification in ayurveda or yunani medicine were administering allopathic treatment to the people. Man commits suicide
Dehradun: A 55-year-old man committed suicide at Ajabpur Khurd here today. The police said he was tense due to a financial crisis which forced him to take the extreme step. He was single and used to drive Vikram, an auto-rickshaw. Family members noticed his body in the morning and informed the police. A case of suicide has been registered. 80-yr-old woman hit by train, dies
An 80-year-old woman died after she came under a moving train near Haridwar by-pass early this morning. The police said she had gone for a morning walk when she accidentally came under a moving train. She reportedly failed to notice the train. |
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DM asks banks to adopt villages
Nainital, July 28 He has also asked the banks to ensure that they have their branches in nodal villages chosen under the Atal Adarsh Gram Yojana and provide proper credit facilities to the farmers. He said loans forwarded by the banks should be for other purposes as well, along with the often-cited purpose of farming, marriages, education and employment. The bank officials have been asked to ensure that people residing in the villages adopted by a bank do not have to go elsewhere to seek a loan and the loan seekers should have to undergo minimum formalities. The banks have also been asked to forward a list of the adopted villages to the lead bank officer, District Collectorate and the Chief Development Officer. |
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Industrialists major tax evaders: Chief IT Commissioner
Haridwar, July 28 Speaking at a programme organised by the Tax Bar Association here today, the Chief IT Commissioner pointed out the need of making aware these bigwigs to pay regular tax as the after affects of tax evasion hampered the growth index of the state. On the issue of pending of numerous cases of tax deduction at source (TDS) in the state, Singh said the delay was happening because the department was in the process of computerising, but assured that soon the refund problem would be resolved. He remarked that the department also faced loss as the delay in payment of TDS led to loss to the department as the refund was paid with interest to the employees. A demand letter was also submitted to the Chief IT Commissioner by the association members in which they sought a regular post of IT Commissioner in Haridwar, along with special staff pertaining to the TDS in the district. The IT Commissioner also warned tax evaders that stringent action would be taken if the tax evasion continued from their side. Lauding the efforts of the department, Singh informed that Uttarakhand was one of the highest tax payer states and said awareness about tax paying needed to be advertised.
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118 cultural troupes to participate in competitions
Dehradun, July 28 The selections will be made for Bhajan, Jadu, Lokgeet, Lagu Sanskriti Dal, Small Cultural Troupes, Natak, Nautanki. The second phase of the selection procedure will be held between August 5-10 in Almora (Kumaon). The artistes are paid Rs 5,000 as honorarium for three hours programme by the department.
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22 security management students get placement
Dehradun, July 28 The students are Junior Managers of Security with the starting pay package of Rs 20,000 per month. In addition to this, another student of the same course, Rahul Bisht, has been selected as Sub-Inspector in the ITBP. Students of Doon University have proved their excellence as 22 out of 27 students of the recently launched course on security management have got a placement in various renowned industries all over India. As per the need and requirement of the course, the university is offering it as a diploma programme from this year, which was launched as a certificate course in 2009. |
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Haridwar, July 28
Dehradun, July 28
The local police arrested two traders from Munsiyari with a bag full of Rs 88.25 lakh being brought from New Delhi and meant to purchase the miracle Himalayan drug, yarsa gumba
(Cordyseps sinensis), near Thal town today.
A total of 118 cultural troupes hailing from Uttarakhand are participating in the competition being conducted by the Information Department.
Every three years the department selects cultural teams for undertaking publicity of it’s programmes and are expected to perform in different parts of the state.
