Haridwar, January 2
With the beginning of the New Year, the BJP, the main Opposition party at the Centre, has geared its organisational activities to prepare itself as the best alternative to the Congress-led Central Government, citing cases of corruption involving the Cabinet ministers and the rising prices that have hurt the credibility of the UPA severely.

The party hopes to retain power in Uttarakhand, too, posing confidence in the Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led BJP Government, terming Mission 2012 as very much possible in the state, owing to developmental works being carried out by the state government. In this regard, a two-day national convention of the party’s executive working committee of the Scheduled Caste Cell (Anushit Jati Morcha) is focusing on luring Dalits, presenting the BJP as the only party that thinks and acts for this section, while rest of the parties just use them as vote bank.

Inaugurating the national convention, vice-president of the BJP SC cell and former leader of Opposition in Parliament Dr Gopinath Munde shed light on the BJP-led NDA governance tenure, when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee chalked out several social benefit policies and have been hampered by the respective UPA governments

National president of the morcha Dushyant Gautam took cognisance of the state working committee of SC/ST cell, which yesterday put forth political resolutions and expressed satisfaction of the state government’s policies and working regarding the Dalits. While Uttarakhand party in charge and former secretary of the Scheduled Caste Morcha Thawar Chand Gehlot urged the party workers to work as per the ideologies of the party, which has been working for the masses and keeping benefits of power secondary.

Pointing on the Assembly elections in 2012, state BJP party chief Bishan Singh Chufal highlighted various schemes initiated for the scheduled caste people, stating that until the suppressed, neglected sections of the society do not join the mainstream, no one could say the nation was developed.

On the first day of the convention, various political resolutions were also passed out such as allocation of the residential quarters to the SC community people. The convention will conclude tomorrow. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and other national political leaders from the BJP-governed states are expected to participate in the convention.

Dehradun, January 2
Ever since the withdrawal of support to the state BJP Government on December 27, things have been changing very fast for the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD).

In a meeting held yesterday of founder leaders Diwakar Bhatt and Kashi Singh Aeri, party MLAs Pushpesh Tripathi and Omgopal Rawat and other senior leaders BD Rathuri, Ved Uniyal, Satish Semwal and Sri Krishna Bhatt, it was decided to urge party president to stay his decision of the withdrawal of support to the state government and suspension order of Diwakar Bhatt.

Aeri said the period of 15 days to respond, after which a meeting of the working committee would send a letter to this effect to the president and give him time, would be called to discuss the matter of the withdrawal and a decision would be taken by common consensus.

Panwar refused to stay his decision regarding the withdrawal and challenged Bhatt for questioning his authority. Swords have certainly been drawn between the president and other senior leaders of the party, who are united against Panwar’s alleged autocratic way of functioning.

Pushpesh Tripathi, who till now talked of aligning with Panwar’s decision on the issue of withdrawal, too, was seen singing a different tune yesterday. He said, “The party president should have consulted the senior leaders of the party and built a consensus in a meeting of the working committee before arriving and announcing the decision of the withdrawal.”

Tables have turned on Panwar with the cohesion of the senior leaders against him and he seems alone in the battle. Panwar had also been stating that all in the party, including other rebel and MLA Om Gopal Rawat, too, were with the party and would give his resignation any day. He also drew confidence from the fact that one founder leader and chairman of HILTRON Kashi Singh Aeri submitted his resignation to him and other position holder and chairman of the Bhagirathi Nadi Ghati Vikas Pradhikaran BD Raturi would do so any day, as he was delaying because of his ill health.

To this, BD Raturi said there was no question of him resigning from his position for a decision, which was taken unconstitutionally by the president. He also said even Kashi Singh’s resignation, which unless was given to the Chief Minister had no meaning.

He said Trivender Singh had besmirched the party’s reputation in the state through his arbitrary and unconstitutional decisions.

Raturi also said the president also committed another unconstitutional error by suspending Diwakar without taking it through proper channel of the disciplinary committee of the party, headed by Srikrishan Bhatt.

Diwakar, who had been accused of dividing the UKD, said he had been an Uttarakhand warrior since he was 19 and fought for the statehood and could never think of joining either the BJP or the Congress, and emphasied that he would always remain loyal to the partyfold.

The party president, who did not come to the informal meeting, said there was no question of him to reconsider his decision of the withdrawal of support to the state government. He also challenged Diwarkar’s authority to do so.

He said, “A suspended leader has no authority to question any decision of the party. He should first answer to the suspension notice within three days.”

Panwar also said he did nothing unconstitutional in suspending Bhatt without consulting disciplinary committee saying that the president of the party had the privilege to take independent decision in this regard.

A year ahead of the Assembly elections, the UKD seemed lost in internal wrangles and controversies, that, too, in the leadership of the president, whose actions have been openly disapproved by all the senior leaders and MLAs.

Dehradun, January 2
The Information Technology Institute for Tribes of India (ITITI), an RSS affiliate and brainchild of the Sangh Parivar ideologue Tarun Vijay, who is also Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand, will be holding a three-day national conference on tribals and youth vis-a-vis security of the country at Dehradun from January 8 to 10.

“More than 40 MPs, Chief Ministers, legislators, ministers of various states having substantial tribal population, security experts and tribal volunteers from all over the country are expected to participate in the conference,” said Tarun here today.

He further said the conference would deliberate on the important issue of growing terrorism in the tribal areas of the country. “It is a serious issue that the tribal areas having 8 per cent of the total population are affected by the terrorism. Nintyfive per cent of the terrorism in the country is in tribal areas and foreign agencies are active in the region,” he said.

Tarun said the tribals were feeling alienated and exploited. “The conference will deliberate on all the issues confronting the tribals all over the country, whether it was exploitation by the government agencies, officials, mafia or politicians,” he said.

The conference will be inaugurated by Suresh Bhaiyya ji, sarvkaryavah of the RSS and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

Lt-Gen NS Mailk (retd), a former Vice-Chief of the Army, president of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram Shiv Kumar Kaul and legislator and former president of the National Scheduled Tribes Commission Dalip Singh Bhuria are expected to take part in the opening day of the conference.

On the second day, Chhattisgarh minister of panchayat and village development Ram Vichar Netam will be the chief guest. Other MPs from Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh will be present on the occasion.

On the concluding day, Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva will be the chief guest and Chief Minister of Jharkhand Arjun Munda will chair the deliberations. “Apart from the politicians, security experts and the police officials, who had served in the tribal areas, would also give their inputs on the situation in those areas,” said Tarun.

Dehradun, January 2
Though the Uttarakhand Government has been demanding from the Centre an enhancement in the allocation of funds under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP), its performance continues to be below average.

This financial year, the government managed to spend only Rs 661.29 lakh from the allocated amount of Rs 1,477.82 lakh. The progress of the programme went downhill in 2008-2009. The officials cited the absence of staff, a lack of proper planning and delay in formulating detailed projects reports as some of the reasons for funds remaining under utilised.

The BADP is under way in the districts of Champawat, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Udham Singh Nagar and Pithoragarh. Under the BADP, provisions have to be made for education, health and rural development for districts that fall in the border areas.

In these five districts, in 2008-2009, 34 works, which were taken up under the programme, were completed against a total of 522, and out of 569 works, 426 were completed in 2010-2011.

For this financial year, Pithoragarh district received a sum of Rs 572.95 lakh and was able to spend only Rs 30.12 lakh while Chamapawat district managed to spend Rs 108.15 lakh out of Rs 217.83 lakh allocated to it. The district of Uttarkashi was able to utilise Rs 157.92 lakh out of Rs 8,522 lakh allocated for the programme.

The Central Government-sponsored scheme has several checks and balances and states are even asked to surrender the remaining funds. 

Nainital, January 2
Farmers in the Terai belt of the region have been advised by the administration to go in for the appropriate use of insecticides and pesticides, particularly for wheat and mustard crop.

Chief Agricultural Officer (CAO), Udham Singh Nagar, PK Singh has issued an advisory for the farmers to make use of insecticides and pesticides to save the two crops from various diseases.

He has suggested that 25 gm of sulphosulphuran should be used for per hectare of the wheat crop and 1 kg of isoprotouran, after mixing it with 800 litres of water, per hectare of the mustard crop.

The administration has pointed out that there were symptoms of ‘mahu’ attack visible in the crops of wheat and mustard.

According to Singh, “Mahu is an insect that is black or green in colour and attacks the plants in groups. It sticks to the green leaves and sucks the important juices from the crops”.

He has suggested the use of indosulphan or methyl-o-dimaton for the purpose of controlling its attacks.

The CAO said, “If proper quantity of zinc sulphate is used during the paddy cultivation, its deficiency will be visible during the initial irrigation period, when the wheat will be sown on that patch of the land.

This leads to the plants being dwarf sized and having yellow stains on the leaves, which should ideally be green”.

He said, “If there are symptoms of zinc sulphate deficiency in the wheat plants, it is advisable to mix 5 kg of zinc sulphate and 15 kg of urea in 800 litres of water and spray the mixture over a hectare of the land under cultivation”.

The Terai areas of the Kumaon region, which comprise parts of Nainital district and Udham Singh Nagar, are considered to be the food baskets of the state, along with parts of Haridwar and Dehradun districts of the Garhwal region.

These areas are known for cultivation of cereals, grains and the best quality paddy. The spell of rainfall over the past two days has brought cheer to the farmers across the region and those in the hilly terrain.

These showers and snowfall are considered to be good for the growth of the crops. The rains have provided the required moisture to the crops in the hilly tracts, where most of the land is devoid of the irrigation facilities.

Dehradun, January 2
A sewage treatment plant (STP) has become a necessity for the tourist rest houses (TRHs) that are situated en route the Char Dham yatra route. Each year lakhs of tourists throng these areas and stay in these TRHs, but there is no proper arrangement for the disposal of the sewage in the TRHs. The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) made a proposal for the STP at TRHs in Kedarnath, Jankichatti, Syalsaur, Joshimath and Tilwara.

It has also become a matter of concern for the protection of the rivers from pollution, since all these tourist places are situated on the banks of the rivers. Sources in the GMVN said, “Setting up of STPs at these five TRHs has been decided, as there are no other possibilities of disposing of the sewage”. The GMVN has been selected as the working agency for the project, which will incur an expenditure of Rs 41.25 lakh. 

Dehradun, January 2
To tackle the rising number of vector-borne disease cases in the state, the Health Department plans to set up integrated disease surveillance laboratories in 11 districts of the state and equip these with epidemiologists.

The proposal of establishing the laboratories has been pending for the past couple of years and it is expected to get a go-ahead this year. The Centre will provide the equipment and an additional sum of Rs 2 lakh for running the laboratories.

“In lower hills of the state, cases of vector and water-borne diseases are often reported, as there is no check on the water quality, tanks are not cleaned and regular chlorination is not undertaken,” said epidemiologist and state nodal officer Dr Pankaj Jain.

The situation in most of these districts takes a serious turn, whenever there is a sudden outbreak of the disease. Only Rudrapur and Dehradun districts have IDP laboratories. Among 13 districts of the state, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Nainital, Haridwar and Dehradun districts have an epidemiologist under the integrated disease surveillance project (IDSP), while in some districts, the government has appointed epidemiologists and there is no laboratory.

Even if the state manages to set up laboratories, it is a tall order getting the services of trained epidemiologists. “Going by the previous track record, most epidemiologists are reluctant to work in the hills,” said DG, Health, Dr HC Bhatt, who retired recently.

Besides, the authorities would also have to work towards keeping the laboratories functioning. The laboratory set up at the Deen Dayal Upadhayay Coronation Hospital is only undertaking functional tests and most of the time, it has been non-operational in the absence of reagents and testing kits.

Dehradun, January 2
The anti-smoking drive started in city cinema halls by the police a few months back has gone up in smoke, as smokers can still be seen in the cinemas without any fear of the police or the staff of the theatres.

It seems that neither the cops, nor the cinema house owners are taking up the matter seriously. Smoking in closed halls can also lead to fire mishaps, which can put hundreds of lives in danger. Besides, smoking inside the hall irritates movie watchers and makes them passive smokers, particularly women and children.

There are hardly any signboards of no-smoking warnings put up inside the hall. The drive was launched at the time of then SSP Abhinav Kumar and then SP Jagatram Joshi. The SSPs had asked areas Circle Officers to strictly challan those seen puffing inside the cinemas halls. The cops had in the initial stage of the drive challaned some of the guilty, but due to slackness of the police and the cinema staff, the ban failed to show any results.

“Had the cinema staff put up boards with warnings of challan, it would have made a huge difference,” opined an elderly at a cinema hall.

Dehradun, January 2
After the retirement of Dr HC Bhatt as Director-General (DG), Health and Family Welfare, on December 31, the post has again fallen vacant and only after the DPC slated for January 4 will it be known who will ultimately take charge.

While it is the prerogative of the Chief Minister to select suitable candidates, the two doctors in line for the DPC are Dr Asha Mathur, Director, National Programme, and Dr HGS Manral, Director, Health. If seniority is the sole criterion, then chances of Dr Mathur who is currently officiating as DG, Health, seem bright; she is senior to Dr Manral by three days.

In the past, there have been instances when the government had side stepped the seniority issue and appointed Dr CP Arya several years junior to Dr Bhatt.

The deliberate slight forced the doctor to take refuge in judicial measures and the court did give a ruling in his favour.

Though Dr Bhatt was DG, Health and Family Welfare, for a brief period of six months, he managed to convey a message to political powers and bureaucracy that even medicos could take the help of courts to undo a wrong.

In fact, the government will have to be very careful and go by the rule book while deciding the latest case of seniority.

However, whatever may be the result of the DPC, both Dr Mathur and Dr Manral will again be for a short span of six months. 

Dehradun, January 2
On the occasion of Road Safety Week, the NSS unit of Phool Chand Nari Shilp Inter College in association with Regional Transport Office, Dehradun, conducted a seminar and quiz competition in the college premises here today. The chief guest on the occasion was DC Pathoi, Assistant Transport Officer.

Addressing the seminar, Pathoi informed students about the safety measures that should be taken while driving on the road. “The vehicle should not have a bright headlight. The drivers must always wear a helmet and carry a driving licence and papers of the vehicle. One should pay attention of the zebra crossing whenever the traffic light turns red. Over speeding, rash driving and overtaking on the highways from the wrong side can be fatal. One must always avoid these and should follow the traffic rules,” he asserted.

The quiz conducted was also based on the theme of road safety where participants were questioned regarding the safety measures to be taken while driving.

Also present on the occasion were Sahilesh Tiwari, Assiatant Transport Officer, Surender Kumar, Public Transport Officer, Umeshwar Singh Rawat, patron, Premlata Bodai, project officer, NSS, Dehradun, Dr Jayanti Semwal, SC Baunthiyal, Ramesh Joshi, Girish Bhatt, Anjana Gupta and many more.

Dehradun, January 2
Members of the Rashtriya Rajeev Gandhi Sena celebrated the New Year today and extended greetings to political leaders, people’s representatives, senior officers and the common public.

Addressing people at the celebration, Sushil Rathi, state president of the sena, wished happiness, prosperity and good health to all the members. He also appealed to all the people to contribute towards making Uttarakhand an ideal state and to actively participate in the developmental activities of women and children.

Also present on the occasion were Vikas Chauhan, state general secretary, Suresh Patel, state vice-president, Ramesh Master, state secretary, and many more. 

Dehradun, January 2
Some unknown miscreants killed a sadhu in his ashram in the Shakti Vihar locality in Roorkee town today. Although the motive behind the crime is still unknown, the police has started working on a clue of “illicit relationship” as the victim was reportedly seen with a woman visiting his ashram late in the night on Saturday.

“We were told that Shankar Nath (victim) performed tantric practices for visitors to help them get rid of the effects of evil spirits. Therefore, he had been enjoying a good clientage of women. During the last hours of his life, a woman in the company of two men was reported to have visited him on Saturday night,” said Inspector JS Pundeer, of Gangnahar police station.

Shanker Nath (40) was found dead in his two-room ashram on Sunday at about 12.30 pm by the police. He had a deep slit injury, caused by a sharp-edged weapon, on his neck.

On being asked if theft or robbery by the criminals in the case could be a reason for the killing of the sadhu, Inspector Pundeer ruled out his possibility. “The evidence and nature of the crime’s spot prima facie do not suggest that the motive behind the crime could have been of a robbery,” reasoned the SHO.