Dehradun, January 1
President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), Trivender Singh Panwar at last suspended rebellious party leader and Cabinet minister Diwakar Bhatt from the primary membership of the party, for not resigning from his ministerial position within a deadline of three days that came to an end yesterday in the wake of the UKD’s withdrawal of support to the state government.

Panwar said, “It was made clear to Diwakar Bhatt that in case he did not resign from his position within three days, the organisation would take disciplinary action against him. Other than that, at my behest, senior leader of the party Kashi Singh Airy and MLA Pushpesh Tripathi, too, were trying to convince him for it, but he did not agree. Rather he questioned the decision of the withdrawal of support. Bhatt also told me that this decision was not in the interest of the party and that I had taken it merely for my own political ambition”.

Panwar also said Bhatt categorically refused to leave the government. Instead, he put a condition that Panwar take back his decision of withdrawal in order to have a talk with him.

Panwar said Bhatt’s statement in the media that all the MLAs, who would continue to extend support to the state government, were with him, was instigating in nature and deserved punitive action. Bhatt has now been given a three-day notice to give a reason for his rebellious act and if he fails to answer, he might be expelled from the party.

Panwar said as soon as he became president of the party, he had made it clear that he would not tolerate indiscipline in the party at any cost, for this he had already punished many party members and office-bearers in the past.

He also took strong notice of the statement of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant, where he allegedly said it was the legislature, not the organisation that would decide the issue of withdrawal of the support.

Panwar said, “If a person with a limited knowledge of the parliamentary affairs can be given this portfolio, one can easily foretell the future of this state government. The minister should update his knowledge before making such trivial statements, which are in direct interference of the party’s internal matters, something we will not tolerate at all. This all is a conspiracy of the BJP to create feud in the UKD, which will never see the light of the day, as all the members of the UKD are standing by the party.”

Panwar also announced a one-week statewide agitation ‘pahar bahchao, rajya bachao’ from January 15 onwardson the issues of compulsion of local languages in the government jobs, relaxation of regulations for domicile making, Garisain as capital of the state, cancellation of allotment of plots to MLAs and restarting the closed hydro-power projects. All the senior leaders and office bearers of the party would take part in the agitation. To pressurise the state government, he said a statewide bandh would also be observed on February 27 and if government did not relent, then the Vidhan Sabha would be seized during the session.

Dehradun, January 1
The Uttarakhand Congress will approach the apex court to ensure a CBI probe into Citurgia land irregularities in the state.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Harak Singh Rawat today castigated the state BJP government of describing the recent Nainital High Court judgment on Citurgia as clean chit for the state government.

“In its judgment, the Nainital High Court has categorically held that the bureaucracy, at the behest of the incumbent Chief Minister, was responsible for the Citurgia land scam,” claimed Harak Singh.

“The court has issued harsh comments against the state BJP government, which on its part was trying to portray the judgment in its favour,” he said.

He said the Nishank Government should rather feel ashamed in the wake of court’s directives in the case. Rawat said the Nishank Government was responsible for the Citurgia scandal from the day one and was now resorting to face-saving tactics.

Harak said nothing less than a CBI probe could nail the culprits, who had tried to cheat people of the state. He also pointed that the Congress would not directly approach the Supreme Court, but would encourage and assist the social welfare organisations to take up the case. Rawat said the Congress would not allow the BJP to cheat the people of the state.

The Congress leader said he would be taking both the Citurgia and minor power project allotment scams before the people in a big way. He said he would shortly be addressing rallies at the Gola Market in Srinagar, Garhwal, and also at Doiwala in Dehradun, where the issues of Citurgia and power project allotment would be highlighted in a big way.

Former Congress spokesperson Surendra Kumar was also present at the press conference.

Nainital, January 1
The recent High Court judgment in the infamous Citurgia land use case has resulted in the demand for Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank’s resignation and initiation of a probe by the CBI.

State secretary of the CPI Samar Bhandari has termed it as the ‘propaganda’ of the Nishank Government. Talking to The Tribune, he said the judgment was a clear indictment of the Chief Minister and his government and was a fit case of starting a CBI probe into the entire affair.

The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday had ordered the Dehradun District Magistrate to take possession ‘forthwith’ of the land at Rishikesh that was the centre of controversy in the case and had also called for initiation of an inquiry into the misconduct of the officials involved in the matter.

The court had also ordered quashing of all the notifications in the matter and had said the land in question could be used only for the purpose for which it had been allocated. Bhandari said, “What else can be said in the matter, when it has been clear that the clearances for the land use change had been given in one single day, with the officials, bureaucrats and the Chief Minister signing the papers within 24 hours”.

On the other hand, the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) has sought Nishank’s resignation in clear terms. Talking to The Tribune at Almora, president of the party PC Tewari said, “It is a clear indictment of the state government. We demand that the government, which is involved in cheating its own people, has no right to stay in power”.

He said the judgment went on to prove that the government had allowed the land use change for its vested interests and the involvement of officials in the case has been clearly established. The UPP has stated that the government had no moral right to continue in power and hence, it should resign immediately. Tewari said an FIR should be lodged in the case immediately.

Pithoragarh, January 1
As many as 30 members of the Pithoragarh zila parishad have submitted a letter of no-confidence against zila panchayat chairperson Ranjana Devi to Pithoragarh District Magistrate (DM) NS Negi on Friday.

“Out of a total strength of 35 members in the zila panchayat, 30 members have expressed dissatisfaction at the functioning of chairperson Ranjana Devi and have demanded her removal,” said NS Negi.

According to the DM, the letter now will be sent to the AMA (atirikta mukhya adhikari), zila panchayat, Pithoragarh, who will check the signatures of the 30 dissatisfied members.

Then, each member will have to submit an affidavit about his signature on the no-confidence letter. After that, the DM will set a date, within 15 days, for voting in the presence of a judicial officer.

"If two-thirds of the total members vote for the motion, the zila panchayat chairman will be removed,” said Negi.

When contacted by The Tribune, Ranjana Devi said she too had a letter of support signed by the zila parishad members. “The members, who have signed on the no-confidence motion, have also signed in a letter in my favour,” she said.

The zila panchayat chairman claimed that some members were dissatisfied with her as she alloted projects equally among all members without resorting to any politics.

Dehradun, January 1
Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli today launched the website, nagarnigamdehradun.com, in the premises of the nagar nigam.

The site has been designed in a time span of three months by a team of six persons under the Project Implementation Unit (IPU) of the Jawaharlal Nehru Rural and Urban Mission (JNNRUM). It is headed by Executive Engineer Sushil Kumar, who will be viewing all the complaints that are registered.

The locals will be able to register their complaints on the website along with their name, address, telephone number, ward number and the description of the complaint, which, the nigam claimed, would be sorted out in 48 hours of registering. People will also be able to register their complaints on the phone in the next one month. Not only this, people will be able to check the status of their complaint online itself. The site will also provide information related to tenders, various projects of the nigam that are in the pipeline, schemes offered by the nigam and achievements of the department.

It will soon start the online facilities related to birth and death certificates. Other than this, residents will be able to deposit house tax online. “We are trying to start the e-governance facility very soon. Once it is started, the residents will be able to pay their taxes online. But till then, I will ensure a tie-up with branches of various banks where the residents can submit their house tax and this might start by May 3,” the Mayor affirmed.

He also inaugurated centres in their zonal office at the Rajpur Road and Chaksha Nagar near the Vidhan Sabha. The residents of five wards will be able to get birth and death certificates at Chaksha Nagar and four wards at the Rajpur Office, respectively. “Earlier the people from far-off areas used to visit the nigam premises, but from today they need not travel long distances and can get the certificates from here only,” Chamoli said and added, “We are trying to get it done online soon. The process will take some time, but it will make life smooth for the residents”.

“We will also start giving licences online very soon,” he mentioned.

Talking to The Tribune, Ravi Sharma, HRD Officer of PIU, said, “The objective of the PIU of JNNRUM is the strengthening of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with the latest development, which includes complete implementation of e-governance. The JNNRUM is to implement three pilot districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Nanital.

Dehradun, January 1
An upright police officer, Jagatram Joshi, has become target of the political vendetta. Shunted from one place to another, the police officer earned ire of the BJP Government in the alleged beating up of one of its MLAs.

Joshi, who got a stay order on his transfer from the High Court, has again been transferred. The latest transfer came yesterday only. According to the latest orders, he has been transferred to Kashipur as ASP, a few weeks after the Supreme Court verdict of his reinstatement as the Doon SP (City). This third transfer in just six months is viewed as a kind of demotion for cops.

Not only has he been demoted from the post of an SP to ASP, but has also been unexpectedly transferred to Kashipur, a few weeks after the Supreme Court verdict of his reinstatement as the Doon SP (City). Perhaps this was to satisfy its own ego that the government created the post of an ASP in Kashipur (Udham Singh Nagar) for the first time to transfer Joshi there. He will have two circles- Kashipur and Bajipur under him.

Joshi, who was serving as SP (City) in Dehradun, was transferred to the 46th PAC battalion of Rudrapur as Deputy Commandant after the alleged beating of a BJP MLA in July.

Not only this, the government had also transferred the then SSP Abhinav Kumar and attached him to the police headquarters. In the aftermath of the BJP MLA beating incident, DGP Subhash Joshi, who was to go to the Centre on deputation, was also immediately relieved off his services.

Following this, Joshi had challenged his transfer orders in the High Court. The Nainital High Court revoked the transfer order of Joshi and asked the state government to reinstate him at the same post of the Doon SP (city).

The government made it a prestige issue and approached the Supreme Court. However, the SC held the decision of the High Court right and asked the government to reinstate Joshi. This was really a slap on the face of the government and it apparently wanted to take the revenge from Joshi and the only weapon it had was to transfer him to Kashipur. Joshi, during his tenure, carried out several drives to improve the law-and-order condition in the state capital, for which his senior officers always praised him.

Dehradun, January 1
A total of 400 postmortems were conducted at the Roorkee Government Hospital in the year 2010 and most of the deceased were road accident victims depicting a horrifying situation on the roads in and around Roorkee town.

Roorkee’s civil hospital-JN Sinha Memorial Combined Hospital-conducted 400 postmortems from January to December 2010. “In 2009, we had conducted 385 postmortems. But it touched the figure of 400 in 2010,” said Dr MR Malik, Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of the hospital.

According to hospital sources, more than 70 per cent cases out of the 400 brought to the hospital for the conduct of postmortem were of those who had died in road accidents. “Our area which passes through two national highways viz Delhi-Haridwar and Delhi-Dehradun of very busy traffic flow is an accident-prone zone. Therefore, the cases for performing postmortem are of those persons who are killed in road accidents,” said Dr Malik.

The 101-bedded hospital, which started the postmortem facility in 2006 and is now facilitated by a trauma centre, faces a shortage of seven doctors. The trauma centre, which was constructed with the view that persons who sustained head injuries in road accidents, could be treated here immediately, is ready with the construction of its modern building for the past couple of years. But it is now non-functional as the government has not been sending specialist doctors on postings here, despite local people as well as politicians bringing the issue of early opening of the centre before the state government through different channels from time to time.

The postmortem house is highly required to be equipped with a deep freezer for the keeping of the bodies. “Shortage of doctors, in fact, is a big issue at our level as the conduct of postmortems often suffers. But, an arrangement of a deep freezer in the postmortem house may definitely help us in conducting the postmortems speedily,” said the CMS.

Dehradun, January 1
The construction of a post-mortem house at Deen Dayal Upadhaya Coronation Hospital is expected to pick up pace after the Nainital High Court dismissed a PIL that had opposed it’s construction.

The transfer of the post-mortem house from Chandernagar has been pending for the past two years. The unseemly controversy surrounding the land allocation for the house has also resulted in the neglect of vital issues like modernisation and convenience of location for doctors. Now with the court ruling in favour of the Coronation Hospital, these issues are likely to be addressed. In most medical colleges post-mortem houses are located at the hospitals.

Protests by local residents had stopped the project time and again, until the Chief Medical Office took the decision to house it at the Coronation Hospital. But now once again a PIL has put brakes on the construction of the post-mortem house.

In fact, it was a petition filed by the residents that set in motion the relocation of the dilapidated post-mortem house built during the British Raj. In the petition it was pointed out that the post-mortem house was causing inconvenience to them. Later, the court ordered it’s shifting, thereby forcing the health authorities to look for a suitable land.

At Kargi, in the midst of construction, it came to light that the land was allocated to the Jal Sansthan for building a sewerage plant. The project was then aborted midway.

Left with no option, the Health Department was forced to abandon the plan. It had already spent Rs 1.5 lakh on the project and now the hunt for land was again started.

Ultimately, a decision was taken to construct the post-mortem house at the Coronation Hospital. However, the construction had to be stopped midway as people again started protesting. Sources said with the post-mortem house being located in a posh area, property rates were expected to fall.

Dehradun, January 1
On the death anniversary of famous theatre artiste Safdar Hashmi, cultural artistes presented a street play at the Gandhi Park here today.

Famous cultural artiste Dr Atul Sharma enacted a play based on environment conservation. He narrated stories, sang poems and displayed posters on the theme. The street play aimed at creating awareness among people and sending across the message to the masses to save rivers and nature from getting polluted.

Posters and poems by Ram Sharma, Prem Avatar Singh, Som Thakur, Adam Gondvi, Dushyant Kumar, Waseem Barailwi, Reeta Sharma, Ranjana Sharma and Nutan Kapoor were displayed during the play.

Dehradun, January 1
A newly married Merchant Navy official allegedly attempted to rape a five-year-old girl at a religious function at Shisham Jhadi in Rishikesh last night. He was handed over to the police after a sound thrashing by local residents present at the spot.

According to the police, the incident happened at about 9 pm yesterday. The child had come with her mother to attend a religious function, Sunderkand ka path, at Shisham Jhadi. However, after attending the function when the woman left the place, she found her child missing.

She went back to the venue and to her shock found that behind the tents a man had pressed her daughter down and was trying to rape her. She raised an alarm and people present there hurried to the spot and caught hold of the man, the police said.

Later, people beat him up and called up the police that arrested the man. Cops have booked him under Sections 376 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code in the Rishkesh police station.

The victim’s mother is a housewife and the father in a private job.

Mahesh Chander Joshi, Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station, said the accused had been identified as Ravinder Negi, a local resident. He is working in the Merchant Navy and had got married two months ago.