Haridwar, August 2
In a sensational case in which a subordinate threatened a BHEL AGM after trespassing on officer’s house with a pistol, now the engineers association has been demanding the immediate dismissal of the accused and imposing serious charges against him.

BHEL Executive Engineers talk to the SHO of the Ranipur police station in Haridwar on Monday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

The Executive Engineers’ Association today met the Ranipur police in charge demanding to impose Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (attempt to murder), against accused Parvinder Singh, who had threatened AGM Saroj Kumar on gunpoint after forcefully entering his bedroom late Sunday night.

As per the complaint filed in Ranipur police station by AGM in the BHEL Fabrication Department Saroj Kumar Das, Parvinder, Grade IV employee, was quite angry over the transfer issue of a supervisor. On Sunday night, he had forcefully entered the AGM’s house situated in Sector 5 and using foul language asked Saroj to come out. Seeing Parvinder armed with a pistol, the AGM didn’t come out, but furious Parvinder broke down the door of the house warning him of dire consequences.

Hearing the noise, neighbours gathered and helped in saving Saroj’s life.

Seeing the crowd, the accused tried to flee, but failed to do so as the police team cordoned the whole building. From the accused a Chinese pistol and ammunition was seized.

Hundreds of engineers rallied to press forward their demands staging a massive protest at BHEL foundry gate urging the BHEL management to dismiss the assailant from his job. Later, a rally was taken out to Ranipur police station pressing for more serious criminal charges against the accused.

Addressing the gathering, general secretary Pradeep Bansal termed the BHEL management’s decision of suspension of the accused as inappropriate, and dismissing him from service instantly would be better as the gravity of his violent act couldn’t be underestimated.

“The image of BHEL has been tarnished by this act and anything could have happened. Still the management and the police seem to be taking lightly the incident which has raised safety concerns among employees and their families,” said Bansal.

SHO Vijay told The Tribune that Parvinder had stolen the pistol while he was with the Army in Rajasthan some years back. Revealing to the investigation team, the accused said a few years back an Army team had confiscated an arms arsenal during checking, from which he had stolen the same pistol used in threatening AGM.

Though in his defence Parvinder said the AGM had been for quite sometime exploiting him and used to create problems for him which ultimately made him to vent out his stress on him, but had no intentions to kill him.

Nainital, August 2
Showing better organisational skills as compared to its political counterparts, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has devised a strategy for the next Assembly elections in the state. Under the strategy, the party aims at better management at the polling booth level and carrying out a massive membership drive.

At the party convention held here yesterday, the party has taken a serious note of the fact that although its rallies and public functions are very well attended, the numbers do not convert into votes. Senior party leader and a member of the Mayawati cabinet in 
the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh Ram Achal Rajbhar said, “The biggest challenge is to convert this crowd into votes. There is no doubt that our rallies are the most 
strongly attended, but somehow this attendance does not convert into votes which we have to ensure”.

The BSP is also following the principle of bringing about minor changes in its strategy to ward off its political opponents. “Whatever organisational strategy we have adopted, our opponents have been quick to copy us. Hence, Behenji (Mayawati) keeps on changing the strategy at regular intervals,” said Rajbhar.

Interestingly, the BSP leadership is inclined to have a centralised structure in place in the party. Its leaders are of the opinion that greater the number of wings of a political party, greater is the chances of infighting. They have been giving the example of the constant bickering amongst the various affiliates of the Sangh Parivar and the Congress.

The party is also upbeat about its performance in the political arena over the past 25 years since its inception. Its leaders are using this as an instrument to boost the morale of its worker. The leadership has been telling the workers that in a very short span the party has been able to become an organisation recognised by the Central Election Commission (CEC) as a national party. They are also conveying that the graph in terms of both the vote share and the number of elected representatives has been going up constantly both in its stronghold of Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.

The party leadership has already made it clear that it would not tolerate any dissident activities and it is very serious about a good performance in the next assembly polls in Uttarakhand which are scheduled to be held in early 2012.

The party leadership has already started analysing the demographic profile of various Assembly segments in view of the scenario emerging after delimitation. It has also started fixing responsibilities on its cadres for booth-level management.

A group of best performing top 20 party workers in every district will be monitoring the party functioning right up to the booth level. The party cadres are learnt to have been told to keep away from anything that can damage the image of the party.

As a shot in the arm for the party, leader of Kumaon Nyaya Manch Balwant Singh Chauphal joined the BSP on Sunday at Haldwani along with several other workers of the Manch.

Dehradun, August 2
Members of the Nadi Bachao Andolan and Peoples Science Institute and other non-government organisations (NGOs) have called upon Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Potable Water Minister Prakash Pant to factor the Lok Jal Niti prepared by activists in 2004 while framing a water policy for the state.

The local NGOs had planned a draft on water policy called Lok Jal Niti in 2004 that was handed to former Chief Minister ND Tiwari. The ministerial-level committee was also constituted to go through the policy in which members of NGO representatives participated, but all in vain. Now, once again the state government has started 
the exercise.

“We have already sent a draft of Lok Jal Niti to Nishank and a meeting is expected to take place soon chaired by the Chief Minister. If the government had shown urgency, a policy could have been adopted at the time when the Central government came up with its policy in 2002, but we wasted our precious time,” said Suresh Bhai of the Nadi Bachao Andolan.

He said in the absence of a water policy, there had been poor management of water sources. “The DPRS of several power projects are against environment and they did not take into consideration the declining water level in most of the rivers in the state. The policy should take into consideration drinking water needs and agricultural needs while fulfilling water needs of people and supporting the local water mills,” said Bhai.

Dehradun, August 2
Angry at the state administration’s decision of treating pensioners from Uttar Pradesh as not of Uttarakhand, members of the Retired State Pensioners Organisation today protested outside the office of the District Magistrate. They submitted a memorandum in favour of their pending demands.

Talking to mediapersons, RS Parihaar, state president of the organisation, said, “The state government is treating the pensioners, who retired before 2000 (before the formation of the state capital), as the pensioners of Uttar Pradesh and not of Uttarakhand.

He claimed that due to the confusion, the UP government had refused to pay them medical reimbursement as well as dearness allowance.

Parihaar mentioned that they should be provided with all facilities as others who had retired after the formation of the Uttarakhand state.

Dehradun, August 2
Demanding action against quacks operating in Uttarakhand, state president of the Elctro-Homoeopathy Association KPS Chauhan has urged the government to take stringent action against them and also ensure that those practising electro homoeopathy are not unnecessarily harassed.

Chauhan today demanded action against “Bengali doctors’’ urging the state Health Minister to set up a special wing in the Health Department so that checks could be undertaken from time to time. “It becomes imperative to protect 
the electro homoeopathy doctors who have been given permission by the state government to practise. Such checks would also curb the proliferation of clinics set up in villages by fake doctors,” said Chauhan.

He also urged the 
electro homoeopathy doctors to prominently display the suffix “EH” after their names prominently on the boards for distinction purposes.

Besides, the Dehradun Chapter will hold a five-day refresher course in electro homoeopathy under the aegis of the Electro-Homoeopathy Research and Development Organisation of India (New Delhi) in all districts in August. A workshop will also be held in each district in the same month.

Though the Central government does not recognise the stream, the state government has allowed the doctors to practise in the state.

Chairperson of the State Women’s Commission and patron of the Electro Homeopathy Association, Uttarakhand, Sushila Baloni was also present on the occasion.

Pitthoragarh, August 2
In the fourth incident in the district during the past seven months, a leopard attacked and injured a woman in the Muwani area of the district today at 8 am. Pitthoragarh DFO Nishant Varma said 55-year-old Mohni Devi was working in her fields near her house when a leopard came from behind, attacked her injuring her on the shoulder and head.

The victim has been admitted to Pitthoragarh District Hospital where her condition is stated to be out of danger, said the DFO.

According to the Pitthoragarh Forest Department, incidents of wild animals attacking humans after entering villages are on the rise in the past two years.

“In one of the four leopards attacks, a 13-year-old schoolgirl was killed. Himalayan black beers and wild pigs also make regular attacks on humans,” said the DFO.

“Wild animals are attacking humans mainly because their prey base has dwindled. Otherwise, they attack only when they suddenly come in contact with humans while looking for food,” said Nishant Varma.

AK Bannerji, DFO Almora, said, “Chaukhutiya, Shetlakhet, Dwarahat, Gagas and Sult areas in Almora district have been the worst hit. In the rarest of the rare wild attack on human beings, a jackal in the Chaukhutiya region attacked two schoolchildren and injured them last month”.

He added that three incidents of wild pigs attacking humans were reported from the Dwarahat and Ranikhat area.

The Almora DFO disagreed that prey had dwindled over the years and that it was translating into more attacks on humans.

“Even at the time of Jim Corbett some 90 years ago, man-eater leopards were rampant. The number of wild pigs has increased manifold in our forests, but leopards still attack humans and this tendency cannot be related to their being man-eaters,” said Bannerji.

Dehradun, August 2
The Peyjal Nigam is ready with a detailed project report for part of the city drainage plan. But it is finding itself in a piquant situation as there are no takers for the plan and the agency, which it had hired from Gurgaon ENC Private Limited, is now demanding payment for the work done.

The exercise for the detailed plan began last year at the behest of the Urban Development Department, but after that, neither the Public Works Department (PWD) nor the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) held discussions with the Peyjal Nigam about the next step.

“We do not have surplus staff. A part of our staff will be implementing the project but where are the directions to follow, there is no clarity. Discussions have to be held regarding the work undertaken by the PWD and the MDDA, they have built roads and carried extensive works and the master plan, too, has to be factored in, but the top of it, we do not know who will foot the bill amounting to between Rs 15 lakh and 30 lakh (approximately) that has to be paid to the private agency. Besides, the treatment of the rivers, too, have to be undertaken,” said Peyjal Nigam Executive Engineer.

Dehradun, August 2
Annoyed by the decision of shifting the office of Joint Commissioner Sales Tax (Appeals)-II, Uttarakhand head office, Dehradun, to Rishikesh, all advocates of the Tax Bar Association have announced to observe a strike on August 3. The members of the association took the decision during a meeting held here today.

Under president Vinay Kumar Jain, a delegation of the Tax Bar Association, Dehradun, met Radha Raturi, Commissioner, Tax, Uttarakhand to oppose on the decision of shifting the office of Joint Commissioner (Appeals)-II, Uttarakhand head office Dehradun to Rishikesh. They had also handed over a memorandum to condemn the erroneous decision of shifting of office.

The association has demanded to back the off-beam decision immediately or else they would take harsh action on the raised issue.

The members of the delegation present were ID Uniyal, KN Sharma, AP Pundir and AK Jain, along with Vinay Kumar Jain, president of the association.

Dehradun, August 2
A five-year-old boy of Maldevta went missing under mysterious circumstances when the family was sleeping on the intervening night of August 1 and 2. The police said it was a possibility that the boy might have drowned in a rivulet, which is near his house.

His family told the police that at 2.30 am, the boy, Mayank, had got up to go to sleep with his mother. But the family in the morning realised that he was missing. The police added that he might have gone outside the house in his sleep and fallen into the rivulet, which flowed very near their house.

Victim’s father is a bus driver, Manoj Kumar Pundir, who has two wives and four children. The family lives at a rented accommodation in Maldevta and belongs to Rudarpryag.

Amarjeet Singh, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Raipur police station, said the police had talked to the father and two mothers of the missing child and they had ruled out any foul play behind his missing.

Meanwhile, a missing case has been registered at the Raipur police station. 

Nainital, August 2
The police in the region is baffled over a case pertaining to an alleged abduction of a trader as the very same victim was later arrested from a different location allegedly selling fake artifacts.

According to information, a trader from Garur in Bageshwar district, identified as Deep Lal Verma, was reported having been abducted from the Tedi Pulia area of Kathgodam on Saturday evening. He had allegedly come to Kathgodam to get his daughter admitted to an educational institution.

But last evening, the same man was nabbed red handed by the police in the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) area of Sitarganj Tehsil of Udham Singh Nagar. He was allegedly selling a fake statue of Jain God Mahavira, along with fake gold biscuits and fake coins said to be of antique value.

The trader was running a jewellery shop in Garur reported missing from July 30 and a First Information Report (FIR) about his kidnapping was registered in the Kathgodam police station.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Udham Singh Nagar Puskar Rautela, by tracing his phone calls and interrogating certain suspects, the police came to locate him and zero in on him. He said the police was investigating whether Verma had plotted his own abduction as a part of a larger plan. As of now, he had been booked for cheating.