Dehradun, September 18
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in a move aimed at asserting his authority, elevated four of his ministerial colleagues to the Cabinet rank. The four ministers of the state, who were elevated as Cabinet ministers, were Vijaya Bharatwal, Khazan Dass, Govind Singh Bisht and Balwant Singh Bauriyal.

All four ministers were administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor Margaret Alva at a function held at the Raj Bhawan here today. Nishank, along with his Cabinet colleagues and senior state government officials, were present on the occasion.

With this elevation, all 11 ministers of the Nishank Cabinet have been given the Cabinet minister rank.

According to BJP sources, Nishank wanted to give a message to all and sundry, particularly his political detractors, that he was in full control and that too with the blessings of the party high command. He got the approval of the party high command for the elevation.

He took this decision at a time when two former Chief Ministers, namely BC Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, were hitting at his knuckles hard. Moreover, he also wanted to give equal importance to both Kumoan and Garhwal regions in this elevation. The caste combination has also been given due consideration. While Vijaya Bharatwal and Khazan Dass belong to the Garhwal region, Govind Singh Bisht and Balwant Singh Bauriyal belong to the Kumoan region. Bharatwal is a Brahmin, while Dass belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. Both Bauriyal and Bisht belong to the Rajput community.

These elevated ministers have been given the portfolios they were holding earlier, except for Bauriyal who has been divested of health. He will be holding the charge of health and education, besides the secretarial administration. 

Mussoorie, September 18
The controversy over the Clock Tower issue has not faded yet. Mumbai businessman Sanjay Narang has come under flak once again as several organisations from Mussoorie have begun to protest by burning an effigy of Narang doubting his intention which, according to them, was to usurp the business of Mussoorie and Landour Cantonment Board and create his own empire where employees would come from Maharashtra.

The protest was initiated by members of the Mussoorie Hotel and Restaurant Association that began in the form of a funeral procession of the effigy from Woodstock School and ended at the Clock Tower, where disgruntled employees of the NGO working under Project Clean also joined in and raised slogans against Narang.

Former BJP president Anita Saxena, former MPG College president Megh Singh Kandari, Jaipal Panwar, Hotel and Restaurant president Sobhan Singh Panwar and Darmyan Singh also extended support to the protest.

Kandari said Narang was trying to create his own empire in the town and ostracising lower-rung employees by bringing in his own set of agreements and laws which were detrimental to the poor working class of the town. He alleged that it had come to his notice that Narang had tried to enter the Landour Community Hospital by introducing draconian laws with the sole intention of removing old staff and place his own set of people. He also tried to take over the State Bank Building at the Landour Cantt Board but it was halted after opposition from residents of the area.

Kandari further said he was informed by employees of Project Clean that Narang in a recent meeting had declared that they would get no support from the BJP government as he had already paid more than Rs 25 crore to them as donation. Kandari was surprised as to why one of the richest Nagar Palikas was kneeling down to Narang with a begging bowl despite having sufficient funds to complete the Clock Tower construction work on its own.

Speaking on the Clock Tower controversy, senior Congress leader Gaurav Garg opined that the heritage value of the tower finished the day it was demolished. Hence, there was no justification of building the Clock Tower at the old place once again. Narang could shift the tower to any other place which could be developed as a tourist centre. Narang’s Clock Tower café for which he became interested in renovating the Clock Tower also could shift to a new place. This move would provide open space at Landour Bazar and traffic movement could be without hindrance.

The protesters also said Narang was also flouting the norms laid down by the state government where it said that more at least 50 per cent should be employed from the state itself. They also reiterated the fact that the protest would be carried on a regular basis and this nexus between the Palika Mussoorie and Narang would also be exposed.

When The Tribune correspondent tried to contact Narang at his residence in Mussoorie he was not available for comments.

Dehradun, September 18
While raising slogans against the state government, members of the Mahanagar Mahila Congress Committee met the District Magistrate and apprised him about the atrocities meted out to women in the state. Leading the group, Mamta Gurang, former city president said the police tortured women and did not write their FIR.

“In the matter of dowry, female foeticide and property issues, police adopts a biased approach against women who no longer feel safe in the BJP regime,” she said and gave the premonition that if the situation continued to remain the same, they would have to come on roads to lead a public anger movement for which state government would be responsible.

Dehradun, September 18
Castigating the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal’s (UKD) decision to prevent the Ganga Panchayat from entering the state as unfortunate, Dr Shamsher Bisht, president (central wing) of the Uttarakhand Lok Vahini, said today such declarations were dangerous and might embolden the forces of disintegration to vitiate the atmosphere of the state.

He said in the past, too, the party leaders had issued irresponsible statements terming those opposing the power projects as CIA agents and anti-national.

“The Ganga Panchayat views the Ganga as a national heritage and is opposing rivers that are being constructed on the Bhagirithi river and is, therefore, asking for the closure of all power projects on this river. It is just a demand. But for the people of Uttarakhand, all rivers are pure and for them, along with faith, it is also a question of existence as most of the power projects have only compounded their miseries that get further accentuated during the rainy season with the occurrence of the Sumgarh tragedy and the Chinaliyisaur incidents,” stressed Dr Bisht.

He charged that by giving such irresponsible statements, the UKD had spelt out that it’s interest and sympathies were with contractors and capitalists. He further stressed that people were not against the judicious use of rivers “for harnessing power, but environment considerations should be taken due care of”.

Pitthoragarh, September 18
The 16th and last batch of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which will come back to India tomorrow, will have to travel nearly 9 km on fresh snow from the Lipulekh Pass to the Nabidhang camp as snowfall occurred in the area last evening.

“The 17,500-ft-high pass received snowfall of 1.5 ft last evening and the adjoining areas of Kuti received 5 cm snow while Zoling has 10 cm snowfall,” said ITBP source based at Mirthi Didihat. According to the ITBP source, this is the second snowfall of the season.

“The first snowfall, 15 days back, was not stable and melted immediately, but this time the snow is dense and stable,” said the source. The areas adjoining to Kuti village are witnessing heavy rain of the season which can cause some trouble to the last returning batch.

Pitthoragarh, September 18
The feasibility report on three-nation environment project on the Kailash Mansarovar region is almost complete and will be finalised in December when the preparation committee, including forest officers of all three nations, meet in Kathmandu. Dr Ranvir Rawal, scientist with GB Pant institute at Almora, who led the five-member Indian delegation to Chengdu city of China in this connection from September 4 to 6, on his return, said.

“After the final document on this project which is named, Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative, gets prepared by December this year the implementation phase of this Rs 78-crore project will start from December, 2012, which will last till 2023,” said Dr Rawal.

The project being jointly implemented by India, Nepal and China has been sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which has International Centre for Integral Mountain Development, an institution of eight nations of Hindukush Himalayas, as core technical agency. “From India GB Pant institute of Himalyan Environment, Almora, and the Forest Department of Uttarakhand are the participants,” said Dr Rawal. From China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and from Nepal Tribhuvan University are the nodal agencies from there respective nations.

After the completion of this project in 2023, which is aimed to preserve the sacredness of the Kailash Mansarovar region, the western Tibetan region of China, Karnali region of Nepal and Pitthoragarh district of India will be benefited where not only the environmental degradation will be checked but biodiversity in this region will also the protected. “The project will benefit 95 per cent area of Pitthoragarh district close to China border and 5 per cent area of Bageshwar district which borders Pitthoragarh in Indian territory,” said Dr Rawal.

Dehradun, September 18
The second phase of the census, known as Population Enumeration, started last week in snow-clad districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pitthoragarh. This was stated by Uttarakhand Census Department Deputy Director Dashrat Singh here today.

He said, “The second phase of the census began on September 11. As many as 150 enumerators and 25 supervisors are deployed for the work in 150 villages and three towns, including Kedarnath, Gangotri and Badrinath. It will be completed by September 28”.

A training programme was conducted for the enumerators and supervisors by the department and all essential material required for the census had already been provided to them, he added.

He said the department had taken all essential steps to deal with the problems that were faced by the enumerators during the first phase.

“The second phase of the census in the remaining parts of the state will be conducted from February 9 to 28 next year,” Singh added.

Talking to The Tribune, Chamoli District Magistrate Neeraj Semwal affirmed that the second phase of the census had started in the district. Due to natural calamities in the district, enumerators were facing some problems. However, the work would be completed on time.

The first phase of census in the state was held from May 1 to June 15 and the enumerators collected information like number of members in the family, age, education, native place, birth place, occupation, nationality etc during the first phase of the census.

Pitthoragarh, September 18
No prima-facie evidence has been found of hiding any quantity of Yarsa Gumba by policemen at Jauljibi Thana. Three policemen have been put under suspension after residents accused them of hiding some of the quantity of the herb and showing less out of the total amount recovered by the police last week. This was stated by Superintendent of Police (SP) Neeles Anand Bharene yesterday.

Pitthoragarh, September 18
Annoyed over government’s advertisement for commissioned medical officers in the Ayurvedic Department before confirming contractual doctors already working in the department for the past three years, the Uttarakhand Ayurvedic-Homeopathic Medical Officers (Contractual) Association has decided to chalk out a strategy to fight for their rights.

“We have called a meeting of all office-bearers of our association on Sunday and will chalk out our strategy after that,” said Dr MS Rawat, president of the association.

According to the contractual ayurvedic doctors, the government has not even cited a slight concession either in age or in experience to the contractual doctors who are working in remote areas for the past year. “Some times they are even supposed to work as pharmacists in their hospitals after finishing their OPD work,” said Dr Rawat. The government did not recruit ayurvedic doctors for the past 22 years under commission and most of these doctors had already exceeded their maximum age of 35 years for government recruitment, he added.

The contractual ayurvedic doctors demanded that as the 60 per cent of total medical services were covered by them, they to be given concession in the age limit and benefit of their experience in permanent recruitment of doctors by the state commission.

Nainital, September 18
The deadline for people in the district wanting to get them identified as statehood activists has been extended up till September 30.

According to District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli only the applications received till September 30 will be entertained and these will be scrutinised by October 15.

A fresh committee was formed on July 31 to identify statehood activists. The committee has police and administrative officials along with those associated with statehood agitation nominated from every sub-division.

The process to identify statehood activists is in accordance with a new government order and will continue till November this year.

Reports of the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU), hospitals and police stations form the basis of identification process.

The committee had scrutinised 211 applications till Tuesday and 153 activists had been recognised till then. More than 900 applications have been received from across the district. The

identification process is being carried out on the basis of applications received in the past as well as those being submitted at present.

In cases where the reports of LIU and police stations are unclear and members of the committee also do not have specific knowledge about the applicant, the applicant is being subjected to fresh verification.

The identification of statehood activists has become a contentious issue with successive governments having failed to identify them even 10 years after the state came into existence. The governments have announced reservation and other benefits for the activists.

There have been allegations that the identifications of activists has been done on selective basis and certain people who had nothing to do with the Uttarakhand agitation have been identified as statehood activists. The identification has become a tedious task as it is difficult to segregate statehood activists.

Haridwar, September 18
When the fast food easing slowly into our regular diet regimen and replacing nutritious and natural food on our dining table, vegetable such as broccoli can be the much-needed nutrient provider if it is eaten on a regular basis.

It’s not only beneficial for people eating, but also lucrative for farmers who grow it in their fields, as broccoli, in comparison to other vegetables, is in great demand among health freaks as well as in restaurants and five-stars hotels. The broccoli production, as compared to other vegetables, gives three-four times benefit to the farmers.

Keeping this in view, the District Horticulture Department has geared itself up to promote production of this multi-nutritious variety with the help of the Centre’s Horticulture Technology Mission. Broccoli will be grown in a large amount across the district to get maximum yield of this European variety. For this, the department will be giving specific agricultural training to the vegetable growers by organising camps at various levels, so that they get first-hand knowledge of the techniques to grow the vegetable.

The information will be given by the department in aid with technical expertise from the Agricultural Science Centre situated in Dhanaurri and the cultivation will start from next month onwards, as the suitable time for the broccoli production is between October and March.

As in the district, broccoli production is very rare and the department is eyeing the lucrative market it offers to vegetable producers, eventually strengthening the economy as about 3,500 odd hectares, where vegetables are grown in the district, less than 1 per cent of land is utilised for the production of broccoli.

District Horticulture Officer Sanjay Shrivastav informs that under the scheme the department has earmarked 50 hectares in the district to cultivate broccoli for which seeds are being procured from the Tarai Development Corporation situated in Pant Nagar.

Agricultural scientists on the broccoli variety say that broccoli has a very high level of Vitamins A, C, K, beta carotene, anti-oxidants, potassium and also rich in dietary fibre when compared with other vegetables which makes broccoli consumption a very healthy diet, while broccoli is also quite costly which gives more economic benefit to the growers.

On immense health benefits of broccoli, nutritionist Shikha Sharma states that broccoli has been found to be quite beneficial for heart diseases, along with anti-viral, anti-bacteria and also anti-cancer constituents, making it a necessary dietary vegetable among the diet conscious.

Rajendra Saini, a Mangalore-based farmer who has been cultivating broccoli for the past few years, says in comparison to other vegetables he used to grow earlier on same agricultural land the broccoli production is at least three times more while the economic returns too go manifold. “Three-star hotels and restaurants on the national highway purchase our broccoli in abundance, as the demand of the vegetable is quite high there. More and more farmers should grow this vegetable as it is beneficial both production and economic wise,” said Saini.

So, if broccoli is cultivated in a large scale in as many parts of Uttarakhand as possible, it will certainly be a revenue-generating option as well as uplift the economic status of the farmers of the hilly state.