Dehradun, August 7
Thawar Chand Gehlot, the new BJP Uttarakhand in charge, has made it a priority for himself to work for ensuring the success of the party in the 2010 Assembly elections. He asserted that the Uttarakhand BJP will unitedly contest the next Assembly poll in the state.

In his interaction with mediapersons at Balbir-situated state BJP office, Thawar Chand Gehlot asked partymen to bring to the notice of the people, good works being done by the state BJP government.

He asserted that the state BJP government had been performing excellently and said the organisational structure too was growing from strength to strength.

“Even the Centre has appreciated the works the done by the Uttarakhand government. The Planning Commission even went on to give an incentive taking into account the performance of the state in the implementation of Central government schemes,” Gehlot pointed out.

Gehlot also denied any groupism within the state BJP. He said the all senior party leaders today stood united and there was no question of any factionalism within the party.

“It is being wrongly portrayed that there is some factionalism in the BJP where as no such thing exists,” he said.

Responding to queries, Gehlot said the Chief Minister will be assign duties wherever it was necessary.

On two party leaders refusing ministerial-rank posts, he admitted that the Chief Minister should have taken consent of the concerned leaders.

The Uttarakhand BJP in charge also greeted the state government for staging a successful Kumbh in Haridwar. He said despite surging crowds, the Haridwar Maha Kumbh was well managed and state leaders need to be applauded for it.

He also rejected the Opposition charges that BJP rule in Uttarakhand was marked by corruption. “If the Opposition’s allegation has weight, they must take appropriate action rather than beating around the bush,” Thawar Chand Gehlot said.

Referring to the party’s defeat in parliamentary elections, Thawar Chand Gehlot said there were several factors that caused the party’s debacle in Uttarakhand in the Lok Sabha elections. “It is wrong to attribute the debacle to a single factor,” he added.

Uttarakhand Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay, Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, State BJP President Bisan Singh Chufal and former Chief Minister BC Khanduri were among prominent persons present on the occasion.

Nainital, August 7
Legal experts from the Uttarakhand High Court have pointed to the shortage of judges in the country as the main cause of various ills ailing the judiciary.

In their address at a conclave organised by a vernacular media house here today, President of the High Court Bar Association BD Kandpal and Advocate-General SN Babulkar said there was a desperate shortage of judges that was leading to long pendency and an additional burden on the judges that were serving.

They also acknowledged the fact that the judiciary was not untouched by corruption and a collective effort was required to deal with the menace.

Babulkar was categorical in saying that while the society was becoming more and more rights conscious, it was ignoring its duties at the same time. He also called for a more transparent mechanism for appointment of judges. He said the strength of the collegiums could be increased and even an exam on the lines of the Civil Services examination could be held to choose judges.

Kandpal accused the government of not doing anything to appoint more judges and hence making the masses suffer. The experts also called for a periodic revision of the various laws that were in existence.

They also pointed that several laws like the Anti-Dowry Act, Atrocities Act and Domestic Violence Act were grossly being misused.

The speakers gave instances of people being accused of demanding things like a television in dowry when they resided in villages where there was no power.

Dehradun, August 7
Sympathising with the cause of 81 temporary employees of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), who were discharged from their duties on June 30 this year, GMVN vice-president Raghunath Singh Negi headed for a confrontation with Managing Director (MD) BVRC Purushottam demanding their immediate reinstatement.

Rebuffed by the MD, Negi levelled serious allegations against him, including misuse of departmental resources and negligence in his duties. He also stressed that he would continue a tirade campaign against the MD until he mended his ways.

While denying the accusations, the MD ruled out any possibility of reinstating the employees before September this year. But Negi wanted it urgently.

The matter brewing between both reached a boiling point yesterday with the MD leaving without meeting Negi when the latter asked to sit with him to discuss issues pertaining to the GMVN. Negi reacted angrily by locking the MD’s room in his absence.

The MD, who is also holding the additional charge of Director, ITI, cited his obligations to the ITI Office being the reason for his busy schedule. The police has been deployed in the building.

Addressing mediapersons, Negi said he would not tolerate rude behaviour of the MD with lower-grade employees. He added, “The MD recently appointed 25 employees through outsourcing for gas agencies under the nigam and removed his own employees who had been working with the nigam for the past 10 years”.

The MD said, “The nigam already has 2,200 employees and does not have the capacity to absorb more”.

Over removing 81 employees, he said, “Every year when mining work comes to a halt in the rainy season, we temporarily remove the employees related to mining work and take them back in September. This year, too, they agreed to it, but now they have begun an agitation for getting themselves reinstated in August itself, which can not be accepted”.

The displaced employees did not show confidence in the MD’s assertion. Santosh Gosai, an employee, said, “We don’t believe him any more as last year, too, the nigam completed the task of reinstating in bits and pieces, from September till January. They are doing this for the past two years. Before that they never tampered with our jobs like that”. Gosai informed that 150 employees of Grade III and 120 of Grade IV had been working with the nigam since 1998. He said not all, but 13 employees were associated with mining work.

Negi also questioned the moral ethics of the MD for spending Rs 15 lakh in revamping his office when the GMVN was passing through a serious financial crisis with most of its tourist rest houses performing badly. Similarly, he alleged that the functioning of 32 gas agencies was in total disarray.

He said he had already talked to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank about raising the canteen charges manned by the GMVN, as despite inflation, the canteen rates had been static for the past 10 years, and Nishank had given him the go-ahead on it.

For the current situation in his office, he gave an ultimatum to the officers and employees of the nigam to deliver effective results or face consequences.

Mussoorie, August 7
The Tibetan community at Happy Valley is in anguish after learning that five rare Buddhist relics, namely Stupas used in the temple ceremony, were stolen in a heist by unidentified persons two days back.

The matter was reported in the police station only today. According to temple priest Lobsang, he was on his regular temple cleaning exercise and when he reached the upper storey of the building, also the seat of the Dalai Lama, he was shocked to see the grill of the window broken.

Sensing some untoward incident, he immediately informed Tibetan Homes Foundation sponsorship secretary Kelsang Namgyal about it.

Namgyal arrived with other staff and found that the ventilator above the grill was broken and five rare relics were missing from there. He has informed the Happy Valley police station and the police is on look out for the perpetrators.

According to Namgyal, the relics were of rare significance to the Tibetan community as those were brought by the community and established by the Dalai Lama in 1965.

According to the police, the investigation is on and the report of theft has been registered. The insiders’ hand is also not ruled out.

Nainital, August 7
The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party has attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for failing to work as per the expectations of people of the state and being against people of hill areas in their approach. The party has also attacked the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) for being opportunistic.

At a two-day meeting being held by the party in Ramnagar to mark the death of Baba Mohan Uttarakhandi, the party leadership discussed issues like unemployment, inflation, emigration, corruption and making Gairsain as the permanent capital of the state.

Dehradun, August 7
Secretary, Horticulture, Vinod Fonia said to provide a better market and competitive prices to farmers, linkages were being created in apple-producing centres in the state so that the farmers could directly offload their produce.

He was speaking at a workshop for apple growers organised by the State Horticulture Department here today. Fonia said this year apple production was expected to be better due to a good snow fall. He exhorted the farmers to adopt techniques that aided in giving them a better produce.

While Additional Secretary GS Pande said though it was difficult to provide assured market to the farmers, the department was keen that the farmers manged to get good price for their produce.

In all, 50 farmers participated in the workshop and most of them complained about not getting good price for their produce. “Most of my apple crop was destroyed by hailstorm in June. Nobody was willing to buy them,” moaned Dhan Singh Rawat, a farmer from Tehri. Director, Horticulture, Dr BP Nautiyal said the department had tied up Haridwar-based Patanjali for buying C-grade apples. “The Food Park is a major source of these apples as these can later be used for producing jams and jellies,” said Dr Nautiyal. He said wherever there were good linkages, the farmers were making a good profit. “There are good linkages in Uttarkashi as farmers in Purola and Naugaon manage to reach the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh market. But there are problems in Tehri and Chamoli and we are trying to sort these out,” he added.

Mussoorie, August 7
A Parent Teachers Association (PTA) meeting was held at Ghanand Government Inter College in Mussoorie today which witnessed some unruly scenes on the issue of electing a new body for the next year.

A new executive committee was also announced on the occasion where Leela Manyura was elected president of the PTA. Chamanlal Nautiyal was elected treasurer and Vashist secretary. The other members of the association elected were Neelam Rawat, Baldev Singh, Deepak Saxena, JC Rawat,Bhaskar and Anil Kukreti.

The election process was marred by several allegations against the school administration in conducting PTA meetings in the year. Outgoing president Kamal Bhandari alleged that the meeting called today was not according to the rules and regulations laid down by the government. He also lamented the fact that he as the president of the PTA was never informed about any function or meeting organised by the school. The essential meeting before the winter vacation was also not held in his tenure.

The school administration refuted the claims and said all were informed about the meeting and Bhandari was raising the issue as he was not being elected for the next term.

The argument continued for a while between teachers and Bhandari, and parents had to intervene to stop the unruly behaviour.

One parent Neelam Rawat said instead of making the association a ground for politics, the PTA members should make an effort to improve the quality of education in the school. She raised the question of lack of study in classrooms and neglect shown by the teachers. She asked for the reasons for the absence of monthly test procedure in the school. Neelam also said teachers were not giving homework to students and proper assessment systems were not in place.

Principal Kaira said four tests were held annually according to government guidelines and they were not directed to conduct more tests. He also said the teachers were putting in additional effort to improve the quality of education in the school.

The teachers and staff later pledged to sort out differences in monthly meetings and consider the suggestion made by parents on a priority basis.

It is important to note that the students from the lower income group benefit from the services in Ghanand Inter College, hence, the neglect is self evident.

Newly elected president Leela Manyura said she would work with the teachers to bring in positive changes in the school.