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Illegal mining: 10 vehicles seized
Ban on polythene bags from December 18
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Death of 10 Youths in Road mishap
Tech education need of hour: Madan Kaushik
Corruption
in Disaster Relief Distribution
Cong leader seeks Khajan’s resignation
Amendments sought in proposal of land distribution to MLAs
Saleem Ahmed is BSP town president
Congress leader holds review meet
IT Vision begins
3 suspects held in alleged gang rape attempt
Security beefed up for IMA passing-out parade
Play staged at awareness fortnight
Seminar on global warming concludes
State seeks Centre’s assistance on dairy farming
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Illegal mining: 10 vehicles seized
Nainital, December 4 In the latest development, the police and the Forest Department, while waking up to repeated complaints about illegal mining in the Kosi river, carried out raids at various places and nabbed around 10 vehicles that were involved in transportation of illegally mined material. The raids were carried out in the Kathiapul area at around 3 am. Seeing a team of government officials approaching them, those involved in the illegal activity tried to flee, but were eventually nabbed. The raids were carried out in an area spread over 15 km. The vehicles that were rounded up included seven tractors and two trolleys. Four vehicles could not be moved from the spot as these could not be driven out of the mud and slush as these had broken down. The raids are expected to continue in the days to come. Officials involved in the raids said that the vehicles involved in illegal mining activities normally move about in the mining zone without registration plates. This is done to create confusion among the authorities. Meanwhile, in the Sitarganj area of Udham Singh Nagar, a controversy is on over a dispute between stone crusher owners and the owners of the vehicles transporting the mined material. Alleging that the owners of crushers are making less payment for the transportation and downloading of the mined material, the vehicle owners resorted to a traffic blockade at the Lakshmi Stone Crusher Road on Friday. Vehicle owners allege that they have been paying royalty that has been fixed at the gates of the Nandhaur river and load their vehicles as per norms. The cost of the mined material comes to Rs 23 per quintal while the stone-crusher owners are purchasing the same for Rs 22 per quintal. They say that the rates last year were Rs 26 per quintal. The crusher owners, on the other hand, said that going by the less demand in the market and the old stock available with them, the prevalent rates for their produce is less and hence, they are not able to procure the mined material at a higher price. The villagers in the area are agitated over the fact that while they have allowed the setting-up of crushers hoping to get employment, they are among the worst sufferers as their agriculture produce is being affected by the pollution. They have sought intervention of the government in the matter. Mining operations to begin in Shantipuri
District Collector of Udham Singh Nagar BVRC Purshottam has ordered officials to start mining operations in the Imlighat Gate area of Shantipuri. Dr Purshottam said
the mining operations would help check flooding in nearby areas and put an end to the illegal activities reported from
the region.The decision, to allow mining at all gates of Shantipuri, was taken at a meeting held under
the Chairmanship of Kumaon Commissioner Kunal Sharma. Orders have also been given for barricading the gates located in the areas falling under the purview of the Forest Development Corporation. Police deployment and setting up of Forest Department pickets has been ordered at the gates, categorised as sensitive and extra sensitive. The officials have been directed to draft a traffic management plan in the area and fixing a time schedule for mining. The farmers residing in the adjoining areas, involved in the transportation of mining material, have been asked to get their tractor trolleys registered. Officials have been directed to prohibit the use of illegal vehicles. The District Magistrate has ordered the officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Forest Department to repair the roads falling under their purview. |
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Ban on polythene bags from December 18
Haridwar, December 4 To restore the cleanliness in the city, the administration has decided to make it polythene free from December 18. The administration has been organising several meetings of administrative officials with social organisations, saints, traders, schools, colleges and NGOs to make sure that the anti-polythene drive gets sustained momentum. Led by City Magistrate R Shreedhar Babu, several rallies are being organised to spread awareness about the ill effects of polythene usage. A rally will be organised on December 6 in which Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will be the chief guest. After the ban on polythene bags comes into force, the government will take legal action against those found selling, using and storing polythene bags and related materials. “Support from all quarters of the society is overwhelming and commendable. Mass awareness among local people, pilgrims and tourists should be inculcated to maintain the cleanliness of the city,” said City Magistrate R Shreedhar Babu.
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Tiwari taken ill
Dehradun, December 4 Earlier in the day, conflicting reports emerged about the condition of the leader with some saying that he had suffered a heart attack which was immediately ruled out by the doctors. A pose of police and a team of doctors continue to attend on the patient, who was admitted at the VIP ward of the Doon Hospital.
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Death
of 10 Youths in Road mishap Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service
Haridwar, December 4 The accident happened near Gaindhikhata on the Bijnore-Haridwar National Highway five days back. Till date, no compensation has been announced from the state government. People have started agitating at the District Magistrate’s office to press forth the demand of immediate compensation for the affected family. Lashing at the state government, Naseem Qureshi, who was presiding over the agitation, said the delay is due to government apathy. Lending support to the affected family members Rashtriya Krantikari Manch president Ambrish Kumar said due to the government apathy, particularly from Chief Minister Nishank’s side, resentment has brewed up among the residents. “The youths, who died in the accident, belong to a poor family. Apart from the huge setback owing to their death, they are now facing the threat of earning their livelihood,” remarked Ambrish. “There has been no end to the woes of the family, as two youths are still battling for their life in the Himalayan Jollygrant Hospital. Despite the fact, the CM did not taken time to at least meet them, while the CM was on way to board an aircraft from Jollygrant, which is just a few minutes drive from the hospital. The CM was leaving for Nagpur to attend the wedding of BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s son. In the memorandum submitted to District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram to be forwarded to the Chief Minister, the agitators demanded an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the deceased and to bear full medical expenses of the injured. A two-minute silence was also observed in the memory of those killed in the accident and expressed condolence to the family members. Notably, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Harak Singh Rawat visited the residence of the affected family members and assured of taking the compensation matter with the CM. Local legislator Madan Kaushik, too, met the aggrieved family members and assured them of compensation. But no BJP representative or administrative official has met the family members so far.
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Tech education need of hour: Madan Kaushik
Roorkee, December 4 Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s programme got cancelled at the last moment owing to his visit to Nagpur, Maharashtra, to attend BJP national chief Nitin Gadkari’s son’s wedding. “Commitment, hard work, innovative mindset, positive attitude and cultural values play an important role in shaping a youth’s future,” said Kaushik. While secretary, Technical Education, Uttarakhand, Rakesh Sharma stressed on the need of carrying out research and high-level educational programmes. Citing insufficient technical faculties in the government and private technical educational institutions, he urged the management of private institutes to make sure that the quality of faculty was of higher quality, as it would have tremendous impact on education, students, research and making the state a technical hub. Vice-Chancellor Chauhan also urged the students to use their knowledge to bring positive changes in the society. “Though we don’t have a world class university yet, Indians figure in a majority of such institutions worldwide that itself speaks of the immense knowledgeable intellectuals that Indians are,” said Chauhan to a rousing clapping of the hundreds of the students. COER chairman JC Jain highlighted the past decade achievements of the institute. At the occasion, meritorious students and faculty staff were also accorded cheques and certificates.
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Corruption
in Disaster Relief Distribution Tribune News Service
Dehradun, December 4 Senior state Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana said despite the Centre’s prompt announcement of relief, the state government had failed to provide succour to the affected. Dhasmana accused the state BJP Government of resorting to corruption rather than prioritising public issues. He said the hydropower project allotment and the Maha Kumbh, this year, were acts of corruption, which have revealed the anti-people intentions of the BJP. District General Secretary of the state Congress Dharamveer Saini has sought the removal of the District Magistrate (DM). He has accused the DM on charges of corruption in the disaster relief distribution. Former State Congress General Secretary Deepak Jakhmola accused the state government of rendering step-motherly treatment towards Haridwar. Farmers from Luxor, Khanpur, Laldhang and other rural areas participated in the dharna.
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Cong leader seeks Khajan’s resignation
Nainital, December 4 On his way to Ramnagar, Pratap, while talking to The Tribune, lashed out at the minister alleging that Dass had been busy dancing at the marriages and other occasions, while the victims of disaster continued to suffer on account of government apathy. “He has been seen dancing at several places saying that it is part of the culture of Uttarakhand. I want to tell him that the culture of the state does not allow you to go around dancing when more than 200 people have died in a calamity, while hundreds of others are looking at you for relief,” said Pratap. He once again repeated the allegation that was being levelled by the other leaders of his party that the state government had failed to utilise Rs 600 crore provided by the Centre for relief and rebuilding works in the state. Equating the mismanagement of funds with that of fund utilisation during the Kumbh held earlier this year, the Congress leader has stated that the money is not being used for the purpose for which it has been sanctioned. He charged that the relief works which the government claimed to have done or was doing, were not visible. He claimed that the Congress was monitoring the fund utilisation right up to the block levels. He is himself the incharge for monitoring the relief works in Nainital district. Pratap said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government in the state was a sinking ship that would be thrown out by the people in the forthcoming assembly poll in the state. The government, according to him, has failed to deliver on every front.
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Amendments sought in proposal of
Dehradun, December 4 Chief spokesperson of the UKD Satish Semwal has also demanded the resignation of the five Congress MPs for failure of protecting the interest of the state. Semwal has also asked the MLA of the housing society to make amendments in the proposal regarding the distribution of land to the MLAs in Dehradun. Semwal said the UKD would emphasise the amendment of the Forest Act, initiate the closed hydropower projects and appeal to the state to provide environmental services. He said he was not against the distribution of land to the MLAs. He said when the city did not have enough land to accommodate the academic institutions, industries and medical colleges, the state should not provide land to MLAs, elected after every five years. He said the state government should build offices or houses in the constituencies or district headquarters of the MLAs.
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Saleem Ahmed is BSP town president
Mussoorie, December 4 Ahmed said he would work for the upliftment
of the poor and would try to bring them in the party’s fold. He said this would make the party a strong contender in 2012 state elections. BSP Tehri Lok Sabha president Sunil Sonil Sonkar congratulated Ahmed and hoped that he would follow the
path shown by Baba Sahib Ambedkar and Bhen Mayawati. He also said the party needed to broaden its voter base and popularity among the masses oppressed by Congress and BJP. He reiterated the fact that the party would continue its door-to-door campaigning and would try to win maximum seats and accomplish the mission 2012. Yaseen Ahmed, Dinesh Panwar, Mohd. Aslam, Saif Khan, Billoo Balmiki, Sunil Panwar, Subagh, Banwari Lal, Shan Mian, Franscis Xavier were present on the occasion. |
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Congress leader holds review meet
Dehradun December 4 Aggarwal said the approval of Phase III from the single-phase LT line had been provided to areas of Khalsa, Chander Bani, Sevlakhurd, Bada Bharuwala, Morowala, Chamnapuri, Rajivnagar, Indira Gandhi Marg and Subhah Nagar. In these areas, wherever the poles got damaged or new transformers were installed or yet to installed, new orders should be placed. Aggarwal said the slum colonies where the bare wires passed over the houses, would be replaced with coated wires. He directed the division to gather the estimate of damaged transformers or the new transformers to be installed, which should be sent to the related wing of the department for further approval. He said officials of the Municipal Corporation and the power corporation should mutually solve the issue of streelights. He also criticised the efforts of a few of the party men trying to take credit of works done by him. Executive Engineer Amit Sharma, SDO, Niranjpur, Anuj Aggarwal, JE Bhandari Baag Dinesh Chauhan and JE Kalgi Pawan Purohit were present in the meeting.
—TNS |
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IT Vision begins
Dehradun, December 4 The fair has been sponsored by Microsoft to display the favourite gadgets of IT in the coming year. Harbans Kapoor, Speaker of the state Assembly, inaugurated the fair. The main manufacturing companies of IT products like HP, DELL, Compaq, Sony, Lenovo, Norton, Quickheal Antivirus, Samsung, CP-Plus, Apple, Canon, BenQ and many others are participating. While addressing at the inaugural ceremony, Balbir Rathore, president of the association, said the fair would provide a platform for all leading IT companies to appraise the state of the emerging trends in the IT- industry across the country. Secretary of the association, Vikas Dewan, urged the state government for the development of IT and IT-enabled services through the event. “A separate memorandum is being submitted to the state IT department for promotion of the companies engaged in IT-related activities,” said Dewan. |
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3 suspects held in alleged gang rape attempt
Dehradun, December 4 Cops said the three were arrested on the basis of information got from the victim and they were trying to trace more of them who were involved in the incident. They revealed that the girl had cooked up the story. In reality she was with her boy friend when some youths started teasing and misbehaving with them. However, the girl fabricated a story to her parents that a group of youths tried to gang rape her after lifting her from a secluded place. She had alleged that she was on her way home from the residence of her friend at the Shimla bypass road. She hired a three-wheeler and was dropped near her house. As the auto dropped her and she started walking towards her house on foot, all of a sudden about six youths riding on bikes stopped next her. They forcibly dragged her to nearby agriculture fields. Before they could do anything, a constable passing by from the road heard her screams and rushed to the spot. The youths seeing the cop escaped the scene leaving the girl behind.
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Folk album ‘Hey Ramie’ launched
Dehradun, December 4 “Youngsters are not much aware of the folk culture of Uttarakhand as they are attracted towards western music, but I want to promote it. Thus, I took the risk and prepared an album differently, and it became an instant hit. It gave me the courage to bring out the second album,” Rajnikant said. He further informed that he had been invited to Polland by the Indo-Polish Cultural Society to arrange a 12-day workshop for teaching Uttarakhand’s folk music as well as dance to youngsters over there. Rajnikant also performed at the Diwali Festival there. “I want that the new generation should learn about the deep meaning of the words used in songs,” he affirmed. The lyrics have been written by Rahul Semwal, Jagdish Sharan, Deepak Thapliyal and Promilla Joshi. Other than him, Promilla Joshi and Madhu Mamgai have lent their voice to the songs in the album. The music directors are Amit Vishnoi and Amit V Kapoor. The video of the same will be released very soon.
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Security beefed up for IMA passing-out parade
Dehradun, December 4 Cops have started verification and checking around the area to keep suspicious elements at bay. In rural areas near the IMA, the police is on a verification drive. SP (City) Ajay Joshi said strict security arrangements had been put in place. Three companies of the PAC had been deployed. Also, 70 other constables would remain on duty. Circle Officer (Dalanwala) would be the security in charge. “The CO (D) will be there at the security. And if any emergency comes up, another CO will be pressed into service,” the SP said. Meanwhile, important traffic diversions have also been made. These diversions will specially be followed on the POP. Women constables and traffic police in large numbers will also be on duty. Besides the district police, personnel of the IMA have also made tight security arrangements on their campus. The number of security personnel deployed on the campus has also been increased. |
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Play staged at awareness fortnight
Dehradun, December 4 A play title “Adhoori Zindagi” was staged at Rajkiya Kanya Madhymik Vidyalya. Volunteers of the organisation held discussions on the theme and urged women to value girls and also raise their voice against violence. The play received a great response from the audiences. “Women are standing up against violence and it cuts across class, status, religion, education etc,” said Nafisa, a volunteer. Similarly, the condition of women was poignantly brought out through the play, “Kokh sey laker aant tak”. The rural women appreciated Rita Sharma’s character portrayal of an elderly woman. Those who participated in the awareness campaign included coordinator of Disha Jhanvi Tiwari, Rita Sharma, Ranjan Rana, Aneehs and others.
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Seminar on global warming concludes
Dehradun December 4 The second session of today’s seminar began with a brief overview by Dr R Ramsankaran, Assistant Professor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. He spoke about the impact of “Global Warming and Climate Change on Indian Water Resources”. This was followed by a lecture by Dr UC Kothyari, Professor, IIT, Roorkee, on “Sediment Management on Hydropower Projects”. The proceedings, containing various research papers and articles contributed by various researchers, were published at the seminar. Dr Z Ahmad, Associate Professor, and Dr CSP Ojha, Professor, IIT, Roorkee, enlightened students by speaking on the “Effect of Climate Change on Hydropower Projects”. Dr M Arora, scientist, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, and Dr AC Pandey, scientist, Irrigation Research Institute, Roorkee, spoke on “Climate Change and Water Resources of India”. The convener of the seminar, Prof Mukesh Saxena, Head of Civil Engineering, thanked all dignitaries and speakers for interacting with students. Prof Kamal Ghanshala Chairman of GEU, RC Ghanshala patron, Prof (Dr) KP Nautiyal, Pro-Chancellor Dr DP Giridhar, Vice-Chancellor C Sharma, Deans and Heads of all departments. B Ramesh and Sanjeev Kumar were the organising secretaries. |
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State seeks Centre’s assistance on dairy farming
Nainital, December 4 According to Rawat, the state government had written to the Centre seeking assistance for promoting dairy farming in the state. He claimed that a technology centre, for improving the breed of milch animals, was being set up in Rishikesh. Rawat said there was a turnover of Rs 2 crore in the trade of cow urine during the current financial year. The government plans to expand it five times in the next financial year. Rawat was in Rudrapur to attend a function in the memory of the freedom fighter Pandit Ram Sumer Shukla today. He said the government had designed a new agriculture policy for the state according to the distinct geography of Uttarakhand. Rawat asked the farmers to come forward and
avail all benefits launched by the government. |
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Haridwar, December 4
Roorkee, December 4
