Dehradun, October 4
Over 1,500 pharmacists launched a statewide indefinite stir today affecting services in all government hospitals, PHCs, CHCs and sub-centres.

Holding the government responsible for failing to fulfill their long-pending demands, the pharmacists in the morning did not yield to the demand of Director-General of Health HC Bhatt, who asked them to postpone their stir till October 6 and instead hold talks with the government.

“In view of the natural calamity striking the state, we had even reduced our boycott hours, but this gesture went unnoticed, and they have failed to accept our demands.

Though we will be holding another round of talks in the night, the decision to call off the stir will only be taken tomorrow,” said SS Chauhan, district president of the Diploma Pharmacists Association, Uttarakhand.

Earlier, the pharmacists had been boycotting work for different spells of hours. This strategy while inconveniencing patients, however, allowed them access to medicines and injections, once the boycott hours were over. But things were different today. As patients began swarming in the morning at medicine counters, they found the pharmacists missing. A similar situation awaited the patients at the Emergency and various OPDs.

Meanwhile, the boycott call had a disastrous effect on patients unaware of the strike. They kept waiting at the counters for getting medicines, but to no avail. Others coming from neighbouring villages will now have to make another trip to the hospital to get the medicines that are sold free at the Doon Hospital.

There was some commotion in the morning when angry patients demanded that the administration take some steps to put up announcements regarding the strike at the hospitals so that patients coming from far-off could save time.

The association members are demanding addressal of anomalies existing in the Sixth Pay Commission, more promotional avenues, transfer of pharmacists who have served for five years at different sub-centres to hospitals, an honorarium of Rs 800 per month for the pharmacists.

Dehradun, October 4
Despite the complete ban on unauthorised mining in the state by the Nainital High Court, illegal mining activities still seem to be rising here. During the month of September, four cases were registered against those who were caught carrying out mining activities from various riverbeds in the district.

Disclosing this, Nayab Tehsildar TR Bhatt said the district administration had collected around Rs 1.20 crore as penalty from the mafias since the month of April this year.

Talking to The Tribune, Bhatt said this month they had caught four trucks that were carrying minerals and had registered one case in this regard.

“A case has been registered against truck owners. We keep on carrying instant raids on a regular basis,” said Bhatt.

He maintained that till now 226 cases of illegal mining activities had been registered, including 46 cases in April, 26 cases in May, 39 cases in June, July and September, respectively, and 37 cases in August. “A sum of Rs 1.20 crore has been collected as penalty from illegal mining operators, who were caught while lifting minerals, sands and grits within the district limits. It is much higher than that of Rs 1.9 crore that has been collected by the Mining Department in 2009-10,” he added.

“The authorities need to increase the amount of penalty to put a curb on illegal mining as, according to the norms, the mining mafia is fined only Rs 25,000 on being caught,” Bhatt added.

Sources confirmed that such materials were being transported unlawfully every day from scores of locations in the district. More than a dozen vehicles could be seen transporting the stuff from different localities in this region every day.

District Magistrate (DM) Sachin Kurve said, “The officials are continuously keeping a tab on such kind of operators and are conducting surprise raids at times. It is due to the alertness that the department has collected Rs 9.67 lakh in August and Rs 9.82 lakh in September 28 from illegal mining operators”.

Though the police has taken the initiative and succeeded in arresting some of the persons employed by the mining mafias, this has had no effect on the continued violation of the ban, sources maintained.

Pitthoragarh, October 4
Rajya Sabha member and BJP vice-president Bhagat Singh Koshiyari said today that the Union government had neglected the importance of defence infrastructure during the 1962 India-China conflict, whereas China had promptly constructed its defence infrastructure on the border.

“Whereas Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh had no air strips, the two air strips in Ladakh sector, Chusul and Neumi, which were made during the 1962 conflict and where even Pt Jawaharlal Nehru landed in a Dornier plane, have since been neglected by the Indian government,” said Koshiyari, while talking about his recent visit to the areas.

The BJP vice-president said in the North-East, the government did not even dare to construct defence infrastructure after 1962. “Even our roads up to border posts from Tawang are still not made pucca ones whereas the Chinese posts across the border in the North-East are fully carpeted and linked to the Lhasa and even farther Chinese bases,” said Koshiyari.

“We are still 50 km away from the high Himalayan passes on the border while China has carpeted roads and air strips across the border besides a rail line close to the border,” he added.

He said the respective Indian governments did not care for the people living on the border and neglected their needs, resulting into their migration. “Whenever cattle of Indian tribesman living on the Ladakh border cross into no-man’s land, the Chinese army men drive them towards the Indian side, but Indian jawans fail to protect even pastures belonging to Indian people living on the border,” said Koshiyari.

Dehradun, October 4
To press the pending demands on the administration, members of the Northern Railway Men’s Union staged a dharna at the entrance of Dehradun Railway Station here today. The protesters began their demonstration to urge All- India Railway Federation to fulfill their demands.

In their memorandum to the authority, protesters of the Federation have mentioned the demands of regularisation of the railway employees, promotion orders of the awaiting members and setting up a structure to fill up the vacant posts after the retirement of the senior employees.

Ugrasen Singh, branch secretary said the union would continue protests till their demands were met.

Haridwar, October 4
Stepping into the shoes of her father, Anupama Rawat, daughter of Union Minister of State for Employment and Labour Harish Rawat, is these days intensively involved in relief efforts in flood-affected areas of Haridwar, her father’s parliamentary constituency.

Since the floods hit a major portion of the district, Anupama has been camping in Haridwar. Accompanied by women Congress activists, she is visiting the affected areas as well as distributing relief material among villagers.

Assuring affected people of full support and aid, Anupama said while the Central government had already granted Rs 600 crore to the Uttarakhand government, Congress workers as well as village panchayats had to see that the money was properly spent and allotted by the government for relief works only.

Lashing out at state government ministers for not focusing on relief efforts in affected areas, Anupama said just putting the onus on the Central government for providing huge funds was only the tactics to delay the relief works.

“First utilise the given Central and state funds and provide compensation to the affected people. But, they (BJP state ministers) are just busy in accusing the Central government of adopting a biased attitude, which is totally wrong. The BJP government in vain is trying to shield their inefficiency in managing the disaster in the state,” said Anupama.

Meanwhile, under the aegis of the District Youth Congress, a free health camp was organised in the Chandighat area for flood-affected people. Hundreds of people were examined and provided medicines free of cost at the camp.

Specialist doctors’ team, led by Dr Rajeev Sharma and Dr Rajesh Sharma, carried out the camp. Both doctors said proper medical aid was required in these areas, particularly post floods, as probability of the spread of a contagious diseases was quite high.

Apprising Anupama of the poor condition of the flood-affected villages, Mahant Ashish Puri said Chandighat and Laldhang areas were the worst-affected areas among urban parts and needed proper assistance for their rehabilitation.

At the camp other relief items like clothes and blankets were distributed among the needy. Those who took part in these voluntary programmes included Vimla Pandey, Rajeev Chaudhari, Dharmendra Pradhan, Kiran Singh, Santosh Semwal, Neeraj Sharma, Sumit Raturi, Praveen Saini, Ramesh Lakheda, Chandan Singh, Uma Gujral, RN Upadhyaya, Ishwari Devi, Tejpal Thakur, Karan Lodhi and Pratap Gusain.

Dehradun, October 4
Manorama Dobriyal Sharma, former Mayor and general secretary of the All-India Mahila Congress, today demanded social audit of relief work underway in the state.

Appalled at the slow pace of work, Manorama said relief was not reaching the villages, people were being forced to lead hand-to-mouth existence, but the government was not concerned. “I suggest that the government should set up a social audit mechanism so that there is a greater transparency and accountability on all relief and rehabilitation work mounted by the state machinery,” she said.

Manorama even threatened to go on an indefinite stir, if the government failed to take note of plight of the people. “I have undertaken a tour of Tipri, Choll, Dharmandal, Khogaon, Rajaketh, Khand, Bhoniyana, Chhatenu, Pallavaran, Katholi, Nandgaon, Barkot and Pipladali villages in Tehri districts and seen the plight of the people who are living in rented tents as the tents provided by the government were inadequate,” she charged.

She said the people of Bhason Gaoon, worst affected by the overflow of the Koteshwar Dam, had complained that no government relief had reached them. “Several vilxagers have borne the brunt of overflowing reservoir of the Tehri Dam and yet they have not been shifted, the roads have broken and vital communication links have been snapped. The people need an immediate rehabilitation,” said the former Mayor.

Manorama demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.

Haridwar, October 4
A communal tension brewed in the city as news of a deliberate attempt to damage the statue of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar in Jwalapur spread like wildfire.

Hundreds of people, particularly belonging to the Dalit community, gathered at the site at Ambedkar Chowk in suburban Jwalapur to see the damage done to the statue.

According to localites, early in the morning neigbourhood residents noticed the damaged statue. The statue was found to have been damaged from the front with bricks at various points.

In view of flaring up of communal tension, a heavy deployment of police personnel was made in the whole area, while administrative officials urged representatives of the neigbourhood colony to be patient so that peaceful atmosphere of the city was not disturbed.

Informing The Tribune, police officer, Jwalapur police station, Pradeep Pant said the situation was under control with the deployment of police personnel in large numbers. The police also wrapped the statue with a white piece of cloth so that the damaged statue didn’t further fuel the sentiments of onlookers.

Later SDM Harveer Singh also visited the site assuring the protesters of necessary action against the miscreants.

As per talks between the administration and localities, there will be a new statue be placed instead of the one that has been tarnished.

“Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar is revered not only by our community, but also by the whole of India. So, it’s a direct blow to our sentiments and faith. Stringent action should be taken against the perpetrators as they tried to fuel communal tension by this disdainful act,” said Shiv Pal of the Bhim Rao Ambedkar Karyakram Samiti.

Notably the statue was installed in 1991 with the intersection itself being called Ambedkar Chowk. Near the statue, there is a community meeting hall of the samiti with the colony having a sizeable number of Dalits residing in the area.

Dehradun, October 4
Top three Yuvak/Mahila Mangal Dals, that did commendable work in their respective areas, were awarded today by the Yuva Kalyan and Prantiya Rakshak Dal Vibhag, Dehradun.

The Dals, bagging the first, second and third positions, were bestowed with the Vivekanand Youth Award by chief guest Subhash Barthwal, vice-president of the Rajya Yuva Kalyan Parishad, Uttarakhand, and Manoj Vishvakarma, president of the Jila Yuvak Samiti, Dehradun.

The Yuvak Mangal Dal, Atakfarm, Vikas Khand-Shaspur and Mahila Mangal Dal, Rajawala, Vikas Khand-Shaspur were declared first.

Yuvak Mangal Dal, Nathuwala, Vikas Khand-Doiwala and Mahila Mangal Dal, Hrawala, Vikas Khand-Doiwala were adjudged second.

The Yuvak Mangal Dal, Sunderwala, Vikas Khand-Raipur and Mahila Mangal Dal, Naaglahtannala, Vikas Khand-Raipur stood third.

All first three position holders were given cheques.

Subhash Barthwal said Mangal Dals that did social work and participated in other activities were identified and given cheques for their services.

These Dals worked against dowry, for building roads and did development related work in their respective areas.

Meanwhile, children who took part in the cross-country race organised on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti were also honoured.

Haridwar, October 4
With several reports of adulteration in the city, the administration has, finally, woken up and several raids were made in commercial hub Jwalapur here today.

In one of the raids, a large amount of adulterated vanaspati ghee was seized in Ghaasmandi in the suburban Jwalapur area. A total of 175 kg adulterated ghee, in various containers, was found by the administrative team, led by SDM Harveer Singh, from the Kailash traders’ commercial establishment.

Two persons involved in the illegal trade, namely, Kailash and Tarachand, both local residents, have been arrested from the spot while making the adulterated material and packing it in containers to be sold in the open market.

Assisting in the raid, Circle Officer Pankaj Bhatt informed that the police had been getting information about adulteration of vanaspati ghee in the area, on which action was taken today.

The police is further investigating the prospect of a larger nexus involved in this trade wherein adulterated ghee is re-packed and re-sealed in branded tins.

After the confiscation of such a large amount of adulterated vegetable oil, local residents have urged the administrative team to conduct more such raids in the entire area.

“We can’t imagine that in our neighbourhood such an illegal act was being done. These anti-social elements, who are playing with our health and faith, should be given stringent punishment,” said Vimla Jha, a housewife.