Dehradun, August 3
To ensure enhanced participation of the Irrigation Department in the construction of hydro projects, the Uttarakhand government today constituted Pariyojana Evam Vikas Nirman Nigam Limited, a new corporation that will draw its strength from the state Irrigation Department.

Disclosing the Cabinet decisions here at the Secretariat, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary NS Napalchayal said the new corporation would be taking up those hydro projects which were not being pursued by the Uttarakhand Jal Vidhyut Nigam. Referring to the new corporation, the Chief Secretary said it would have 150 employees out of which 145 would be drawn from the Irrigation Department. The other four specialist employees, including finance and company secretaries, would be from outside the irrigation cadre.

He said Arakot 70 MW and Tyuni 66 MW hydro projects had already been granted to Pariyojana Evam Vikas Nirman Nigam Limited to begin with. An amount of Rs 2 crore had also been provided to the new corporation as part of initiation process.

The Chief Secretary held that it was found that the Irrigation Department had trained manpower and was already into civil works linked to hydro power projects. Thus, it was decided to use this irrigation manpower to better purpose.

The Cabinet also approved the setup of the Technical Education Department linked to polytechnics. Nineteen posts of Head of Department (HOD) had been created that would cater to the long-pending demand of basic science lectures for an opportunity to get to the post of HOD. Similarly, a total of 373 posts had been earmarked in the new technical education set up of the state. The department would now be recruiting as many as 225 lecturers through the Public Service Commission to make up for the vacancies.

In another major decision, four out of the total of 27 roadways bus stands in Uttarakhand will be developed on a public private partnership (PPP) mode. The Roadways Department will be giving these bus stands on a lease of 25 years, thereby earning an amount of Rs 49 crore in the process. This apart from revenue earnings through hotels, motels and other business concerns inside these bus stands to be shared between private parties and the roadways. These four stations are at Srinagar, Ramnagar, Kashipur and Rudrapur.

Interestingly, the MLAs will get the airfare allowance on a par with the secretaries in the state. Making an amendment to the rules, the Uttarakhand Cabinet decided to hike this airfare allowance from Rs 4 per km to Rs 6 per km as provided to the secretaries. It was also decided that from now on this allowance will be kept on a par with secretaries. Further, rules for pension for family members of deceased Vidhan Sabha members have also been amended to facilitate early release of pensions in such cases.

The setup of the State Social Welfare Department has also been expanded taking into account the increase of work. Now, there will be two posts of Joint Directors, three posts of Deputy Directors, and one post of Additional Director at the state level apart from expansion in structure at the district level.

The registration fee linked to sale and purchase of property instruments has also been increased from maximum of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. However, the earlier rate of charge of 2 per cent of fee uptil the amount of Rs 2.5 lakh will continue to be levied.

As a relief to Central Police forces employees in the state, the Cabinet decided to waive value added tax on daily use commodities in canteens run by these central police force organisations. However, this waiver will not be applicable to liquor. This will put an additional burden of Rs 10 lakh annually on the state exchequer.

Among other decisions, security amount that was earlier deposited with post offices in the form of savings certificate for conduct of smalltime period entertainment shows in the state, can now be deposited with the drawing and disbursement officer. This has been done to do away with hiccups caused to the those organising short-duration entertainment shows in the state.

As of the Trade Tax Department, the Cabinet has decided to dissolve the Banbasa post. There was very little movement of vehicles in the border region of Banbasa and thus the post was proving a burdern on the department. Now, the staff at this post, which includes two trade tax officers, will be put to use in other sections of the department.

Additional Chief Secretary Ajay Kumar Joshi and Principal Secretary (Finance) Alok Kumar Jain were also present at the media briefing.

 New setup of the Technical Education Department linked to polytechnics approved

 Bus stations at Srinagar, Ramnagar, Kashipur and Rudrapur be developed on the PPP mode

 MLAs to get the airfare allowance on a par with the secretaries

 More top posts in the State Social Welfare Department

 Property registration fee increased from maximum of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000

 VAT waiver on daily use items for Central forces staff

 Trade Tax post at Banbasa to be dissolved

Haridwar, August 3
Terming the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-led Central government policies as pro-labour and trying to envisage various schemes for the benefit of the lot which is the base of any nation, apart from farmers, Union Minister of State for Labour Employment Harish Rawat stated that the UPA was carrying forward the pro-labour policies in its second tenure too.

The Union state minister was late last night presiding over a function at BHEL of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)-affiliated Heavy Electricals Majdoor Union, where he lauded the efforts of INTAC in fighting for the rights of labourers and employees since its inception.

He said efforts were being made to ensure that the minimum wages be increased nationwide. For a better insured future of families of the working labourers, the labour ministry was envisaging schemes in this regard.

Pressing for the need of making labourers share holders in factories, as contractual workers’ share in the total labour employed in the country is more than 1/3rd, Chairman of Central Labour Education Board Ashok Singh said until contractual labour got benefitted by governmental policies, the real implication of the policies would not be reached.

On the occasion Harish Rawat, who is also Member of Parliament from the Haridwar constituency, was felicitated by the union members. Present on the occasion were OP Chauhan, Mahtab Singh, Alok Kumar, Kumud Shrivastava, Ram Suresh, Ram Vishal Dev, Kiran Singh, Rajiv Chaudhari among others.

Haridwar, August 3
In a major setback to the newly appointed Haridwar district Congress chief Rajendra Singh, Yashpal Arya, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, today directed that the district executive working committee to be deemed null and void owing to non-following of party constitutional procedures.

With this decision local parliamentarian Harish Rawat-led faction has suffered a big jolt while pro-Arya faction of Braham Swaroop Brahamacharya is all smiles. The latter almost has nill representation in district as well as city executive committees.

As a special envoy, general secretary of the PCC Virendra Bisht revealed the decision of the party chief in the state at a press conference. Giving the main reason for declaring the district executive working committee null and void, Bisht said as per the Congress organisational constitution and norms, district chief while declaring the working committee members’ name had to get approval of the state party chief, which in this case had not been adhered to.

“The appointment seemed a self-declaratory one with no consent nor any communication been done in this regard with the state party chief, hence the appointees of the working committee are deemed illegal,” said Bisht.

This action by the PCC seems to have a long-term repercussions in the district as well as the state inner party politics with both Rawat and Arya being at loggerheads in Kumaon politics and now in Haridwar too the rivalry seems to be continuing.

Citing example, Bisht said like in the case of state executive working committee members’ names are sent for consultation to the AICC for approval in the same way the district committee list has to be sent to state chief, but in Haridwar this precedence was flouted, inviting this action.

Notably, while the district executive working committee was announced earlier this week that of the city Congress has still not been announced and with this controversy the delay in its declaration may prolong.

Accompanying the PCC representative were Dr Santosh Chauhan, general secretary of the PCC, Jitendra Vidyakul, secretary, city Congress chief OP Chauhan, city block committee head Subash Ghai, Kankhal block head Laxman Singh Pundir, councillors Ashok Sharma, Satya Narayan Sharma and several party leaders.

Dehradun, August 3
Uttarakhand can become a leading producer of seasonal vegetables by adopting protective farming, an integrated approach in which vegetables are grown in poly houses, resulting in good quality of produce and enhanced production.

This goal can be achieved only through greater attention to production, good quality of seeds and willingness of farmers to take risks. “In Dehradun and other parts of the state, farmers have used poly houses to produce high-quality flowers, and a similar approach is required for the production of vegetables. Even if a few farmers take up the challenge, other farmers will follow the suit. The delivery of the scheme depends on its reach. We need to promote success stories so that they can be replicated by farmers,” said Additional Secretary, Horticulture, GS Pandey at a workshop on Protective Farming organised by the Horticulture and Food Processing Department, Uttarakhand, and sponsored by the Horticulture Technology Mission.

While Dr BP Nautiyal, Director, Horticulture, said the Horticulture Technology Mission was promoting low-cost poly houses with drip systems that could be a boon to farmers in areas that were facing water scarcity.

However, the district horticulture officers pointed out the technical difficulties encountered by farmers in adopting to poly house saying that in the hilly districts where the temperature is below minus zero degree, it is difficult to promote poly houses.

They also said to hold the interest of the farmers the financial grant for the poly houses schemes being offered by the Horticulture Mission should be enhanced.

District Horticulture Officer Dr SK Singh said due to scanty land holdings, even if the farmers wanted to take up protective farming, the costs of poly houses turned out to be huge and banks could play a big role. “The Chief Minister’s Protected Land scheme is a big draw and public sector banks need to come up with farmer friendly schemes,” he said.

Dr Surbhi Pandey of the Horticulture Department said loans to the tune of Rs 50,000 were being offered to farmers for setting up poly houses under the Horticulture Technology Mission.

The total area under vegetable cultivation is 57,547 hectare, while total production is 5,75,040 metric tonne.

Dehradun, August 3
Members of the Mohalla Swachta Samiti sat on a dharna to register their protest against the inaction of the state administration on their demands which they made during their 15-day strike which ended on June 21 on the promise of the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) to forward their case to the state administration.

Ashok Verma. Leader of the Opposition, blamed the current outbursts on the announcement of cutting their 15-day salary for June when they were engaged in a strike. “The sanitation workers would have gone on working silently without resorting to strike, but this blow of slashing off their two weeks’ salary is what has pushed them to go on strike again”.

Sunil Kumar, sanitary worker, said their matter of salary hike was still lying unattended. Now, this another announcement of salary slashing had hit them hard. Rakesh Kumar, president of the samiti, said, “We have not been given salaries for two months, and now they are talking of cutting a chunk of it. We have had enough of mutual fights of these officials who are not ready to do anything for us.

“Though our deadline to start a strike again began on July 21, we were still waiting for some positive reply from the state administration. Now, our hopes have died down. The dharna is an ultimatum to the corporation to roll back its decision and accept our demands, otherwise we will go on an indefinite strike”.

The MNA was not present in the premises, but Mayor Vinod Chamoli seemed quite miffed with the agitators. He said, “This continuous nuisance of strike is spoiling the atmosphere of the DMC. The workers should not resort to such tactics time and again, otherwise they might lose their jobs as well”.

Chamoli said the officials who made the promise of not cutting their salaries during the strike period should have kept this aspect in consideration while fixing their salaries for the period. But since they had already done all document work regarding it, they could not backtrack from it as they were before state administration and RTI explanations. 

Dehradun, August 3
Doctors in Uttarakhand are a disgruntled lot, stagnation, poor working conditions, few promotional avenues and inability to honour promises have forced them resort to strikes and token protests.

Despite promises by Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal and former Principal Secretary, Health, Keshav Desi Raju for the implementation of Central government’s Dynamic Assured Career Progression (DACP) Plan in promotion of doctors, a majority of the doctors have not been promoted.

“There are a total of 175 doctors who were promoted as Joint Directors, Directors and Assistant Directors, but Class II have not been given similar treatment, and they continue to remain stagnated on one post,” said Dr SD Joshi, President of Provincial Medical and Health Services (PMHS), Uttarakhand.

Adding that the DACP is being implemented in Himachal Pradesh and the Uttarakhand government should take cue from smaller states. If the state government implements the DACP, doctors will be then be promoted after four, nine, 13 and 20 years. A total of 650 doctors continue to stay put in one post.

Besides, the PMHS is also angry with the government’s denial of hill cadre to 43 doctors who have not been allocated hill cadre despite a written confirmation way back in ’94.

“The government’s role is questionable. Only six months back the doctors came to know about the decision. These doctors do not have a cadre despite giving written confirmation in ’94,” said Joshi.

Meanwhile, the doctors, who have been on a token protest since Sunday, were not able to meet the Chief Minister and the Secretary, Health, and the meeting is now slated for tomorrow.

Dehradun, August 3
Uninor will provide Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh (UP) customers with up to 60 per cent changing discount on calls billed at 1 paisa per second under the Dynamic Pricing plan.

Discounts will change according to the location and time at which a call is made. The plan will cover all calls, local and STD, from Uninor to any phone network. The plan is available on a recharge tariff of Rs 26 with a validity of three months.

To reveal the new plan, Allan Bonke, Executive Vice-President, Uninor, Delhi hub, addressed a press conference at their New Cantt Road-situated office today. “By choosing the time and place to make a call, you decide how much you want to pay. This has been philosophy of our dynamic pricing concept-power of tariffs in the customer’s hands and an end to the fixed tariffs raj,” said Bonke.

The officials of the Uninor present at the press conference claimed that the network reception was really good and there wouldn’t be any congestion problem wherever the company had its network.

At present, Uninor Services are available in 13 circles of UP (West), UP (East), Bihar, Orissa, Kolkata, West Bengal, Tamil Naidu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Dehradun, August 3
Three persons attempted a gang rape on a student of a city paramedical college in a room at the Canal Road after abducting her from outside St Thomas College, Cross Road, in a car. The girl has refused a medical examination until her parents reach the city and no FIR has been registered till now.

Till the last report came in, the three suspects were on the run and the police had impounded the Innova car, which was used to allegedly abduct the girl.

However, the police denied that any abduction was done and said it must have happened with the consent of the girl as main suspect Divyaraj Chaudhry was known to her.

Neither the girl has came forward with the complaint nor it was possible that she was taken to a room after being allegedly abducted in a car. She didn’t shout nor did anybody come to know of it, according to SS Negi, Station House Officer (SHO) of Rajpur police station

The SHO added that this afternoon the control room received information from Karan, who is a friend of the girl, about the alleged abduction by three persons and later taking her to a room.

The girl after escaping from the room had called up her friend Dhruv in Delhi about it, following which he informed Karan.

Meanwhile, the friends of Divyaraj said he and the girl met in Delhi six months ago and became friends. Divyaraj had also brought the girl to one his friend’s place on the Canal Road last night. The girl hails from Jammu and Kashmir and her parents are living in Delhi.

Mussoorie, August 3
Artistes from Uttarakhand, along with residents of Mussoorie, celebrated the completion of five years of a super-hit Garhwali film “Kaika Bana” at Library Bazar here today. The local artistes also hailed the demand made by Pauri Member of Parliament Satpal Maharaj on including Garhwali and Kumaoni language in the 8th schedule of the Constitution.

The function organised by PB Films was inaugurated by Mussoorie MLA Jot Singh Gunsola by lighting the ceremonial lamp.

Eminent singer from Uttarakhand Meena Rana enthralled the audience with her melodious voice on the occasion. The audience also pledged to preserve the mother tongue, be it Kumaoni or Garhwali.

Chief guest Gunsola commended the efforts of the director of “Kaika Bana” for completing its five successful years. He also said the film had broken all records and was being appreciated worldwide.

Local artistes Meena Rana, Rachita Kukreti, Padam Gusain, Manju Bahuguna, Manglesh Dabal, Shivendar Rawat and Prerna Bhandari and writer director of the film Pradeep Bhandari were also felicitated on the occasion.

The muhurat shot of a short film titled “Love in Mussoorie” was also completed by breaking the symbolic coconut today. The muhurat shot was filmed on the song “Sabsey sundar hoti subah-sabse sunder bhor...”. Meena Rana has sung in Hindi for the first time in the film.

According to director Pradeep Bhandari, the film is being produced under the banner of PB Films and highlighted the beauty and diverse metropolitan culture of the town. He further said the film would try to spread the message of unity in diversity, along with the glorious past of the town. It was an effort to increase the love towards Mussoorie through this film. The other invited guests former Palika member MS Mall and Principal MPS Mukesh Lal extended greetings on Bhandari’s birthday and said it was due to people like him that the culture of Uttarakhand was being promoted outside the region.

Other artistes Madan Duklan, Trilok Chauhan, Anil Godiyal, Kamlesh Bhandari, Pushpa Padyar, Shushma Rawat and others were present on the occasion. The function was coordinated by Mohsin Tanha.