Dehradun, August 6
The matter of self-assessment of house tax which laid buried since April this year after new Mukhya Nagar Adhikari took over seem to be heading for another long spell of delay. According to the sources, a letter dated July 19, which was sent from the state government to the DMC regarding government’s intention to constitute a high level committee to look into this issue and fix house tax ratings was kept away from Mayor’s knowledge.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli who came to know of the said letter on Friday reacted saying, that the letter might be stuck in the administrative process for all this while. About the letter’s content, he said, “We are already in the fag end of implementing our own self-assessment house tax policy which only needs hearing on objections raised by local people on the policy. As per the Municipal Corporation Act, MC is empowered to enact self-assessment house tax, which is the best practiced policy wherever it is being followed. As far as the state government’s directive is concerned, that is meant to bring out a uniform house tax policy meant for all local bodies, including the MC. Since the MC is above local bodies and is authorised to formulate its own policy, therefore, it should not be kept at par with rest.”

Chamoli added that the corporation had taken care of equipping the policy with safety measures to prevent the evasion of taxes. He also talked of meeting DMC officials to discuss the matter, then raise it with state government.

The loss to the revenue of the DMC is estimated to be at least Rs 4 crore due to non-implementation of new policy in this regard.

Just like on hoarding issue, house tax regulations too attracted lot of hue and cry from the residents. To pacify the ranting, the Mayor invited objections from people ward wise after publicising the tax regulations in local dailies. People too reciprocated in full measure. Afterward, the hearing was to be done on the objections, again ward wise, and then a new amended proposal was to be passed in the Board meeting but the atmosphere in the DMC took turns for good with new MNA holding the charge. These four months went by more on settling scores on hoarding issue where the matter of house tax was relegated to the back seat.

While taking into account of the massive losses the DMC is incurring on the behalf of the delay, Chamoli said, “As per the old rates the DMC make a revenue of Rs 4.5 crore annually. If we implement even the most reasonable rates and include those 56,000 families which remained excluded from the house tax bracket when 18 localities from 17 villages and two from Ajabpur were merged with Dehradun in year 1998 and the slum colonies then our revenue will shoot up to 8.5 to 10 crore. Just by sitting on this issue, we are incurring massive loss.”

Besides this, before 1995 when the DMC was a local body, then house tax rates were updated after every five years. After that, as per MC Act, the rates should be revised after every two years, but nothing had been done in this regard.

Haridwar, August 6
Urging people of Uttarakhand to come forward to save the holy Ganga, which originates from their state, by opposing any construction of hydel projects on the river and its tributaries in hilly districts, Dr Rajendra Singh, Ramon Magsaysay award recipient, has called for a mass awareness in this regard.

Rajendra, who got the award in 2001 for community leadership, particularly for mobilising villagers to rejuvenate their own water resources in Rajasthan, is in Haridwar these days to lend support to the agitation of an environmentalist, Prof GD Aggarwal, against hydel power projects on the holy river.

Speaking at a seminar-cum-interaction with upper middle class people of the Kumbh city to seek their views on the Ganga pollution as well as on the agitation undertaken by Professor Aggarwal at Matra Sadan. The seminar was organised by the International Council for Man and Nature (MANU) in collaboration with Lions Club of Jwalapur. The ‘water man’ said Ganga panchayats would be formed to generate awareness about saving the holy Ganga from pollution and the need of protecting its natural flow. This panchayat would be started in Haridwar on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this year.

Commenting the numerous dams and power projects being carried on the Ganga, which have hindered the natural flow of the river, Rajendra said the government seemed to be only having a commercial aspect while the religious and lifeline status of the Ganga was being sidelined by it.

Addressing the people, the Magsaysay awardee urged them to first take a small which would take the form of a mass movement ultimately making the government fulfil their demand.

Citing examples of western developed countries that are abandoning hydel power projects, he said we were following the opposite example building hundreds of dams on rivers, thus rendering great damage to the ecology and environment.

Distinguished scientists, environmentalists, educationists, including Dr Dev Raj Khanna, Head of Environmental Department, Gurukul Kangri University, Dr Naresh Aggarwal from Tehri Garhwal and Dr Vijay Aggarwal were present.

Haridwar, August 6
The parking lots are full, ashrams premises are occupied, roadside spaces are filled, the city is overcrowded with the Kanwariyas and the Kanwars on vehicles - Dak Kanwars.

All official parking lots are full and there was not an inch of space to creep in as Dak Kanwar reaches its zenith tomorrow with Kanwariyas from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh are thronging the pilgrim city to fetch the holy Ganga water from Braham Kund in Har-Ki-Pauri.

Till late afternoon, more than 15,000 vehicles of Dak Kanwars were officially parked in, while the influx of Dak Kanwars were pitching in from all quarters with Kanwariyas loaded in trucks, jeeps, cars, tractors and even autos.

Though the number of on foot Kanwariyas have declined as most of them had reached Haridwar in earlier phase of the Kanwar yatra taking more time as compared to easier ones of those who tread on vehicles. Still hundreds of thousands of on foot Kanwariyas are treading their way mostly towards their home states to reach before tomorrow evening.

Mass reception is also being accorded to the Kanwariyas at entire Kanwar stretch with the Muslim community welcoming and offering refreshments to the Lord Shiva devotees. At Jwalapur, Roorkee, Mangalore and other areas Kanwariyas are being offered water, food, shelter, snacks and warmth which is presenting a communal harmony picture.

Chanting of religious mantras “Bum Bum Bhole” and “Om Namah Shivay” are easily audible throughout the day on the Kanwar route and at the mela area, particularly at Har-Ki-Pauri and adjacent areas.

Meanwhile, clashes of Kanwariyas with police personnel majorly on issue of playing music systems on Kanwar vehicles also witnessed in large numbers. At Rishikul mela police personnel positioned at the stretch stopped and urged Kanwariyas to stop playing music. A minor altercation also reported in which additional police force pitched in as more Dak Kanwariyas gathered to press forward for allowing of music systems.

The police had to later resort to a light lathi charge as Kanwariyas began to overpower police personnel deputed there.

After reaching of higher administrative officials, City Magistrate Archana Grehawar and CO (City) Pankaj Bhatt, on the spot, the situation was brought under control.

Mussoorie, August 6
The state government is planning to come out with an act for managing shrines on similar pattern of Vaishno Devi and the Himachal shrine boards.

Char Dham Vikas Parishad vice-president Surat Ram Nautiyal, who was on his visit to Mussoorie, informed the mediapersons that the government was planning to enact a shrine board on the similar patterns of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Nautiyal said he had visited the shrine boards of two states on the direction of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and studied the policies present in the act. The parishad is also planning to visit South India for better understanding of policies and create a policy of its own in near future. He also said contrary to the perception, the number of devotees had increased after the culmination of the Kumbh and around eight lakh devotees had visited the Char Dham till yesterday which was three times more than last year.

Nautiyal said the SAARC Winter Games would be another feather in the cap of the government coming December-January. The officials have been given necessary directions in this regard to make the games a great success. Speaking on voice of dissent among the beacon holders, he said he was fully satisfied and the beacon holders were senior member of the party, hence were aware of the government working. He also said Nishank’s doors were open to one and all, hence the question of dissent was mere rumour propounded by the opposite party.

Dehradun, August 6
The hapless half of the total strength of 650 members of Swachta Mohalla Samiti feel trapped as despite having worked in those 15 days when their counterparts were on strike they too have been dealt with the same blow of the proposed cut of 15 days’ salary. Assistant Mukhya Nagar Adhikari has slammed supervisors of the ward for concocting the whole plot behind it.

The saddest part is that these workers are not coming forward to seek justice in writing for the fear of earning wrath from the other half who was on strike. “We were named rebellion by our partners for not lending support to them in their cause. We have been not only deserted by them but also by the officials of the DMC who had assured us full salary of the month, but now we feel ditched. We can’t even voice our concerns as the rest of the agitators will go against us,” said a sufferer.

Chander Mohan Kala, the leader of the agitators conveyed gratification on seeing those who worked by defying his diktat getting punished as well. “This move will teach them a lesson as henceforth they would rather believe us than the corporation,” he justified.

AMNA Harak Singh Rawat said it was the astute designs of supervisors who despite his suggestion to not to cut the salary of all the sanitation workers marked them absent, to implicate him for breaking his promise which he made to urge them to call off their strike and, further keep this issue boiling.

Rawat though conveyed hope that in case if the workers who worked give their grievances in writing, he could forward the matter at the secretariat level. He said at his level, he had personally requested Principal Secretary, Urban Development to spare the agitators and others from salary cut.

The heat in the issue is dieing down with each progressing day as on Friday the sanitation workers were not even seen sitting on the demonstration. Rawat termed it as the non-cooperation of supervisors who he said earlier were inciting the agitators to oust him as he objected to their corrupt way of making money by marking fake attendance in must-roll. He said, “I showed them the right way of earning money by selling garage both bio-degradable and non-bio degradable and, gave them the job to raid the defaulters for using polythene below 20 microns and, dumping garbage other than dustbins.”

Dehradun, August 6
Various projects in the district have been left in the lurch due to the shortage of Block Development Officers (BDOs) and other office staff in various blocks. This while causing inconvenience has also resulted in delay in projects and a visible adverse impact on meeting the target of ventures.

Officials claim that for six blocks in the district, the number of office staff is half that the actual sanctioned strength by the government. The post of the BDOs is lying vacant in various blocks, including Raipur, Sahaspur, Kalsi and Chakrata in Dehradun district for the past several months.

Doiwala BDO has been given additional charge of Raipur block, Vikas BDO of Sahaspur block while Assistance BDO has been working as BDO in Kalsi and Chakrata blocks for several months. Besides, there is still no clarity on the way forward.

The post of ADO (Statistics), who is responsible for maintaining data on expenditure for various projects and plans, is also lying vacant in each block for many years.

“There is a shortage of 50 per cent staff in most of the offices. Mostly, employees are engaged in dealing with the pending work in all six blocks in the district,” said an officer.

The sanctioned strength of engineers/technical assistant under the NREGA project is 29 and there should be one engineer in each Nyay Panchayat in Dehradun district, but the ground reality is that the district has only 12 engineers for completing the project. An officer in Kalsi block said only one engineer had been appointed in block for nine Nyay Panchayats.

“Most of the projects are delayed due to the insufficient number of engineers. Not only this, it puts extra burden of completing the work on various civil work projects on time,” he added.

The Irrigation Department as well has acute shortage of junior engineers but the department is somehow trying to complete the project on time, said the official.

Nainital, August 6
In a successful operation carried out by a special team, the police have managed to arrest three persons accused of running a racket that involved making road and railway passengers unconscious and decamping with their possessions.

The three suspects have been arrested from the Roadways Station in Haldwani when personnel of a special team, constituted to tackle growing instances of passengers being duped, trapped the suspects while posing as bus passengers.

The police have seized biscuits and ‘pakoras’ laced with intoxicating material from them along with huge quantity of tablets used by them to lace eatables.

The persons arrested are Atiq, Abdul and Nanhe of Tapla area of Moradabad. They had been residing in Azad Nagar area.

Instances of passengers being duped of their valuables after they consume eatables from unknown co-passengers have been reported on a daily basis from across the Kumaon region.

This spate of instances had recently led to the Inspector General of Police (Kumaon Range) RS Meena forming a special team to nab the culprits.

Talking to The Tribune, Meena said that the police are working on arresting other persons running a similar racket in the region.

Dehradun, August 6
The police control room staff of the Dehradun police was given soft skills training by the trainers of 108 here today at the Coronation Hospital.

Nine of the staff members of the control room were trained today while rest of the nine would be trained on Monday. The police personnel were trained in etiquettes-manners, attending calls humbly and understanding the callers well, Dalbir Singh, marketing and communication head of 108 said.

Later, senior police officers of the district police and 108 held a conference in which they pledged to work in coordination. Chief Operating Officer of 108 Anup Nautiyal highlighted the work of the police and the 108 in the events of emergency and accidents.

Nautiyal said the police and 108 in collaboration had carried out mock drills, mob handling training and bike rallies. He also said next week the 108 along with the district police would organise road safety campaign.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) GS Martoliya praised the 108 service for its less response time in emergencies and first aid service which, he said, was even better than hospitals.

Nainital, August 6
The mobile users in the state receiving a spate of fraud calls from Pakistan, has become an issue of concern. The police now claims to be taking steps to make people aware of the lack of authenticity of such calls and to request people not to attend or take those calls seriously.

According to the information available, the mobile users in the state have been receiving calls from a number starting with Pakistan’s ISD code of +92. This correspondent also received a similar call from the number +00923446909073. The callers either give a missed call or cut the call in between after making an alluring promise with regards to the receiver having won a lottery ticket or asking him to make certain purchases to get a gift offer.

Talking to The Tribune, the Inspector General of Police (Kumaon Range) RS Meena said the police was aware of such calls being received by the people. He pointed that there is a need to make people aware that they should not attend the ISD call in the first place unless they identify the number of an acquaintance residing in the country from where the call is being made and if at all they attend the call, they should not get carried away by the offers or call back.

He pointed that although the practice of e-banking in India is limited, such callers can resort to financial frauds if they are provided with the bank account numbers by the people they are trying to dupe.

Meena further said he would be writing to the SSPs across the region to keep a tab on ISD calls being made from the public booths. “As a precaution, we would also ask the people running STD booths to maintain a record of ISD calls made from their outlets,” he asserted.

Sources said the receivers of such calls include even some retired police officials. It is also being pointed that since the calls are being made from Pakistan, a country often accused of stirring trouble in India, calling back might land an innocent citizen into trouble as there is every possibility of Intelligence and other agencies swooping down upon him to question him and put him through harassment.

Earlier on there have been instances of such offers coming the way of people while they work on the net. But the scope of the fraudsters succeeding is limited by the fact that very few educated people make the use of net and are familiar with English as a mode of communication. But an offer coming over the mobile with the caller addressing a person in Urdu is all the more tempting for a common ignorant man and there are chances of more people falling prey to the people running the racket.

The police said the only way to deal with the problem is through spreading awareness as the Indian agencies do not have any control over mobile service providers across the Indian boundaries. 

Pitthoragarh, August 6
The local administration of Munsiyari has issued orders to the local hotels and trekking groups to inform the administration about all members of trekking groups who are going to the high Himalayas for trekking and mountaineering after crossing the inner line.

“We have decided to take this step after two foreign tourists were reported trapped on their way back to Munsiyari from Milam,” said JS Rathore, SDM of Munsiyari.

“Two foreign women tourists, namely Illreen from Germany and Hu Yu Zine from Taiwan, had got separated from their group. They had to go back to their last camp after a portion of the track was washed away at Bugdyar, some 24 km from Munsiyari on August 4. They have now reached Munsiyari and are in good health,” informed the SDM. The two women had to spend a night at Rilkot camp due to the blockade there and were two days late in reaching their base camp in Munsiyari, he said.

Mussoorie, August 6
The members of Lakhwa-Byasi Bandh Prabhavit Jan Kalyan Samiti alleging the misuse of funds by the BJP government in the state and resorted to blockade of Aglar Bridge on the way to Yamnotri highway, 20 km from Mussoorie. The villagers affected by the Lakhwar-Byasi Dam construction gathered in a large number and stalled the traffic for few hours much to the inconvenience of the Char Dham yatris.

The blockade was opened after senior officials talk with agitators. The members alleged that there was no need to construct the bridge on the Aglar River amounting to Rs 14 crore as the whole area would be submerged after the formation of Lakhwar Byasi Dam. The members further said since the bridge would be submerged under water, the allocation of the fund was not justified and the whole exercise it seemed was to usurp money by utilising substandard material and usurp the said amount systematically.

Members further stated that instead of constructing the bridge, it should have been used in providing pending compensation to the dam-affected farmers or it should be build after deciding the zero pint of the dam so that such situation did not arise again. It was also decided that after meeting Nishank on August 10, further course of action would be discussed and till then the agitators had warned the contractor to halt the work immediately.

President of the samiti Manmohan Singh Mall and others were present on the occasion. Mall is not leaving any opportunity to criticise the state government in the Dhanaulti constituency as he is also one of the probables for the MLA seat in the Congress from Dhanaulti.

Nainital, August 5
Officials of the Income Tax Department have unearthed tax evasion to the tune of about Rs 1 crore by certain educational institutes located in Kashipur, Ramnagar and Bhimtal, along with the premises owned by a businessman in Ramnagar.

The evasion was unearthed following an operation during which searches were carried out at schools and institutes.

According to sources, the officials have taken into custody incriminating documents from the said establishments. It was disclosed that personnel at the institutes were unable to account for the cash recovered from them and the claims made by them with regards to the physical infrastructure.