Haridwar, January 6
Taking cognisance of various discrepancies and laxity in the execution of several civic works in the city, the City Magistrate yesterday inspected the sites of various development projects.

From carrying out raids on commercial establishments to check the usage of polythene to overseeing various development projects, City Magistrate R Shreedhar Babu has been quite active for the past few weeks.

Encroachments were removed from the stretch of the road from the railway station to the bus station that leads to a market. Vendors had encroached upon the roadside hindering the flow of traffic.

Taking notice of several complaints regarding irregularities in the laying of a drainage from Devpura via the railway station, the City Magistrate inspected the site. He found the complaints of irregularities in the work to be true and pulled up the agency and the contractors executing the project.

Several trees have been felled near the main gate of the railway station to lay the drainage line. However, the contractor has not bothered to remove the huge mass of root, which hinders the flow of rainy water. The City Magistrate instructed the contractor to uproot the trees fully.

When Shreedhar Babu found that there was no officer of the nodal agency RES at the site to monitor the work, he called up Executive Engineer of the RES and told him to make sure that the work was monitored by an assistant engineer or junior engineer-level officer daily.

The City Magistrate, along with his team, then went to Moti Bazar and Subji Mandi where a large quantity of polythene bags was seized. Penalty was also imposed on the violators.

Informing about the ongoing anti-polythene drive, Sector Magistrate Naresh Chaudhari told The Tribune that in the coming days various other places of the city would be covered under the drive.

Accompanying the administrative team were Health Officer Anil Tyagi, Tehsildar Pooran Singh and other officials.

Dehradun, January 6
If everything goes fine, a door-to-door garbage-collection service will start in the state capital soon.

The state government has given its nod to SPML, a Delhi-based company, that bagged the bid by quoting Rs 350 as tipping fees as it was the lowest rate against the tender issued by the Municipal Corporation.

Then, the corporation evaluated the company financially and the report was sent to the administration who again checked out the company.

The Rs 24.60-crore project (for 15 years) has been approved under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and sanctioned by the Urban Development Department.

Mayor Vinod Chamoli told The Tribune that the company spokesperson would be visiting him shortly to discuss the project. After that, they would start door-to door collection.

A processing unit, where garbage will be dumped and recycled, will be set up soon.

Sources maintained that the company would be given Rs 350 for picking up a tonne of garbage. The company will carry out door-to-door collection, transportation and processing of garbage.

Dehradun, January 6
A notice was served on President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal Trivender Singh Panwar by DN Todriya, who has been made acting president by the parallel party group led by Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt.

The notice read he was suspending Panwar for meeting Governor Margaret Alva in connection with the withdrawal of party support to the state BJP Government on December 27 without discussing the matter with the working committee and taking the approval of the MLAs and senior leaders of the party. Despite being cautioned not to act further in an undemocratic and unconstitutional manner, the President went on to suspending and expelling the leader of the legislature party and other senior leaders, which was why they were suspending him and ceasing all his rights as the president of the party. In the notice, Panwar has also been warned against taking any decision in the future. He has been asked to clear his position within seven days otherwise he would be expelled from the party in a general house meeting.

Meanwhile, Panwar termed the notice as an immature act of Bhatt and his supporters and refused to respond to it. He said one could easily decipher which was the real UKD by seeing that a majority of the party office-bearers approved the decision on the withdrawal of support from the state government. He once again blamed the BJP for engineering the split in the party.

Panwar, who a day before had talked of suspending those who would accompany Bhatt during a meeting with the Governor to affirm his support to the state government, refused to suspend MLA Omgopal Rawat, who, along with Bhatt, met the Governor. “If I suspend him, he will be free from us which I don’t want to do. In case if he leaves the party, his own membership and position as MLA would also be in danger. Therefore, I spare him from the punishment.” 

Nainital, January 6
Senior Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) leader Narayan Singh Jantwal, while expressing anguish and concern over the developments in the party that is heading towards an imminent split, has stated that the party will have to strike a balance between the ideals that led to its formation in the first place and the practical realities of modern-day politics.

Terming the recent developments in the party as unfortunate, Jantwal said even today there could be no third alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) except for the UKD. “It was for the first time that the UKD had become a part of the government in 2007. It has to be realised that in a democracy the numbers are very important. The party could not achieve much since it was very small in terms of numbers. We will have to refocus ourselves and reorient the cadres towards gaining in terms of seats in the coming elections so that we can implement what we have always wanted for the state,” said Jantwal while talking to The Tribune.

The UKD is still seen as a party that represents the genuine concerns of people of the state. “What is happening is one thing, but we will also have to draw a future road map. We will have to think about the scenario that will emerge a month later and how the cadres are to be galvanised towards helping the party face the forthcoming elections,” he said.

The UKD was a force that had spearheaded the agitation for the formation of a separate state of Uttarakhand. Its leaders and cadres have been identified for their activism and concern for developing hilly regions of the state that have so far been alienated from the development process. However, the party has failed to make a mark in the elections either at Parliament or legislature levels.

Its decision to support Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd)-led BJP Government in the state in 2007 did not go well with its cadres and since then the party has been standing at a precarious political junction where its leadership are supporting the BJP while the cadres want that all ties with the party be snapped. This has culminated in the present imbroglio where new equations have emerged within the partyfold over the past few days.

After being elected as the party President, Trivendra Singh Panwar had made it very clear that the sentiments of the party workers would be duly taken into account over the matter of continuing support to the BJP Government.

The UKD is amongst those exceptional regional parties in the Indian polity whose vote base has been decreasing considerably. In most of the states the fortunes of regional parties are having an upswing.

Observers say this is on account of a lack of parochial and regional sentiments amongst the political forces in the state.

Ever since the state came into existence, the party has been struggling to make a space for itself in the electoral politics. Today, it is solely identified for its stand on making Gairsain a permanent capital of the state. It faces an uphill task to ensure that its tally, which stands at a meagre three seats in the present Assembly, goes up if it wants to be a key player in the state politics in the times to come.

Ironically, while the regional parties across the nation have been making electoral gains over the two decades past, the UKD’s fortunes have been sliding down. Having contested all the five Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 Parliamentary polls, the party had fared miserably. The “second-rung” leadership of the UKD, along with its cadres, had squarely blamed the continuing support of the party to BJP in the state Assembly for the poll debacle. All the five candidates fielded by the UKD after the party could not have a pre-poll alliance with the BJP had lost their deposits.

Under pressure from the party cadres, the lone UKD minister in the state Cabinet Diwakar Bhatt had resigned from the ministerial post held by him just before the polls. However, he had not campaigned for his party citing ill health as the reason for doing so. He continues as a minister and has become the instrument for the breakup of the party.

With all the candidates of the UKD losing their deposits, the party graph hit an all-time low. The vote share of the UKD had dipped from 43,899 votes in the 2004 general elections to 38,100 votes in the 2009 Parliamentary election.

Dehradun, January 6
Smelling capitalist designs in the government’s move to introduce contract farming with the approval of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) by the Cabinet, farmers and experts say the government should not introduce the contract farming in a hurry.

Once the Uttarakhand Government adopts the APMC Act, the rules of the game would drastically change. It would mean multinational companies and trading companies can directly purchase commodities from farmers at the prices prevailing in the market, a move that is bound to drastically affect the agriculture in the state.

“It is a mode of capitalist penetration of agriculture for capital accumulation. The government should take up independent studies to ascertain whether the experiments in India and other part of the countries have been successful,” said Dr Anil Joshi, an advocate of food security who has travelled all over the country by a bicycle to understand the plight of the marginalised farmers.

Joshi said the farmers had not benefited wherever the contract farming had been adopted in the country. “The government has not held discussions on the issue. Without the appropriate institutional arrangements and legal provisions the contract farming will prove disastrous for the farmers,” said Joshi.

Private mandis mean cutting on extra cess such as the mandi cess and other charges, reducing final costs for buyers and allowing better gains for the farmers.

In Uttarakhand, about 7.8 lakh hectares is under agriculture of which 5.9 lakh hectares has irrigation facilities.

The role of private players is not limited to buying produce directly but they will also have to ensure the availability of better seed, fertilisers and pesticides. They will also arrange for finances and crop insurance, a matter of consternation for some farmers like Vijay Jhardari, who had launched the Beech Bachao Andolan.

“Nobody is talking about seed security. Our farmers in Uttarakhand have a tradition of saving seed for generation, but once the APMC Act is introduced, a farmer will have to pay through his nose for buying seed from MNCs,” said Vijay Jhardari.

Explaining the provisions in the proposed APMC Act, Secretary, Agriculture, Om Prakash said private investors would set up mandis and haats. “The farmers could also sell their produce directly to consumers and the land would continue to be vested with them,” said Om Prakash.

Allaying the fears of the farmers, Agriculture Minister Trivender Sing Rawat said the farmers would be able to access markets and their bargaining power too would be increased once the Act was implemented. 

Nainital, January 6
Udham Singh Nagar District Magistrate (DM) BVRC Purshottam has called for complete transparency in identifying the beneficiaries of various schemes under the Horticulture Mission.

Dr Purshottam has directed Horticulture Officer Mohammad Umar to furnish a list of the beneficiaries identified over the past five years and stated that a First Information Report (FIR) will be got registered if any anomalies are found with regards to the procedure of identification of the beneficiaries.

Speaking at a meeting held at Rudrapur today to take stock of the progress made under the Horticulture Mission, Purshottam expressed displeasure at the pace of the progress being made.

He warned that serious action would be taken against the officials not doing their work properly and merely completing the formalities. He said to achieve the goals of the scheme, there was a need to make farmers aware and encourage them to take up horticulture and vegetable farming in a big way. He asserted that cosmetic growing of fruits and vegetables for the sole purpose of availing subsidies would be considered as a misuse of the facilities made available.

The District Magistrate has also called for the setting up of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in horticulture sector and asked the officials to co-ordinate with each other for the purpose. He said the farmers should be imparted training under the Technology Mission so that they could make use of technology while taking up horticulture and vegetable farming.

The Horticulture Oficer informed that 390 hectares of land was brought under horticulture in the district during the year 2009-10.

Dehradun, January 6
Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli has said he will sort out the matter related to the renaming of the Chanderbani area as Chaudhary Charan Singh by the Municipal Corporation (MC) very soon. “I have constituted a team of five members who will talk to villagers as well as members of the Jat Mahasabha and find a solution within a week,” he said while addressing villagers of Chanderbani on the premises of the Shree Ganga Uddar Sena Samiti here today.

Chamoli also explained to the residents that though the place was known by a particular name, it was necessary to get it on record. “There are many places like the Gandhi Park which is registered as Subash Park, or Sarangpur Chowk is known as Mahavir Chowk or Tehsil Chowk is listed as Abdul Ahmed Chowk,” he stated and added, “Whatever name is given to the chowk will now be on the rolls of the nigam”.

“The nigam does not want to hurt the sentiments of the residents of Chanderbani as it has a historical background and will see what can be done,” he stated.

Hem Raj, priest of the historical Nav Durga Temple, explained the significance of the place to all those who were present there. “Gautam Rishi, his wife Ahiliya and daughter Anjana (Hanuman’s mother) stayed here for some time and it has become a tourist destination. Even bus drivers know about the Chanderbani Chowk and hence it should not be changed,” he said.

Raj Kumar, BJP MLA from Sahaspur, assured the villagers that he would not let them down. “I have explained to the Mayor about the significance of the place and told him that the renaming would hurt the feelings of the locals,” he said and added, “We do respect former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh and need to learn a lot from his works. Thus, we request the Mayor to give the name to some other chowk”.

Ombir Raghav, former president of district panchayat, stated, “I myself belong to this place and have been residing here for the past 25 years. I know what is the importance of the name Chanderbani, and I have personally requested the Mayor to sort out the matter as soon as possible”.

Sulekh Chand, former member of the panchayat, said, “The Mayor is trying to divert the issue of renaming Chanderbani, instead he is talking about development in the area. He should first solve the issue and then talk about the other one”.

Earlier, the Mayor also met members of the Jat Mahasabha and assured them that the matter be sorted out without creating any tension.

Among others who were present were BJP general secretary Govardhan Bhardwaj, councillor Amita Singh and Sushil Gupta, central president of the Gorkha Democratic Front Vikram Sahay, gram vice-president Suman Butola and member, Zila Panchayat, Aneesh Bisht.

Dehradun, January 6
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a dharna in favour of their demands at the Gandhi Park here today. The protestors raised slogans against corruption in government departments.

In their memorandum, the protestors have sought a probe into scandals and scams like the Commonwealth Games, 2G Spectrum, Adarsh Housing Society and others.

Under the leadership of Surender Singh, who is a senior leader of Dehradun unit of the ABVP, they handed the memorandum to the District Magistrate addressed to the President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil. 

Dehradun, January 6
Two applications of the family of Anupama, who was allegedly murdered by her husband Rajesh Gulati, were rejected by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Amninder Singh. Also, the statement of Gulati could not be recorded today, as he told the court that his mental condition was not good. His statement will now be recorded some other day.

Meanwhile, in the first application, the family of the victim had requested the court that Gulati not be allowed to meet his children as it would have an adverse effect on the mental condition of the twins.

In the second application, the family had pleaded to the court to seize the property of Gulati.

According to the police, accused Gulati had murdered his wife Anupama on the eve of Dasehra on October 17 by stuffing cloth into her mouth and hitting her on the head with an iron object. The police had recovered parts of Anupama’s body kept in a deep freezer at the home. Gulati (38), after murdering his wife, had kept the parts of her body in the deep freezer for two months. He used to dispose of these parts one by one in the forest area on the Mussoorie Road. Gulati kept updating his wife’s e-mail address in order to hide the murder from her Delhi-based family and friends. He used to send messages to his in-laws on behalf of Anupama through her phone, assuring them that all was okay between him and hid wife.

Dehradun January 6
To emphasise on seeking maximum benefit from comprehensive welfare schemes set up by the Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council (UHHDC), a day-long convention for weavers was organised at Handloom Expo-2010 here today. More than 100 weavers and artisans from 12 states participated in the convention and got clarifications on their doubts by experts as well as personnel of the department.

While addressing the convention, Brij Mohan Deoli, branch manager, LIC of India, expressed concern over the less number of enrollments of weavers for the life insurance coverage. “Out of 90,000 weavers, only 1,000 are availing the life insurance scheme provided by the Government of India. The enrolled members can avail maximum coverage with small investment. The actual minimum premium amount of the life insurance policy is Rs 330, but under the welfare scheme of the council, weavers are supposed to give Rs 80 only. To provide enhanced insurance cover to the handloom weavers, rest of the premium amount of Rs 150 will be borne by the Government of India, while Rs 100 by the LIC of India,” said Deoli.

“On the natural death of the weaver, death claim of Rs 60,000 will be given to the acclaimed nominee, Rs 1,50,000 on accidental death, Rs 1,50,000 on permanent disability (loss of two limbs) and Rs 75,000 on partial disability (loss of one limbs),” added Deoli.

For additional benefits, an associated scheme of education scholarship is also given to handloom weavers. For classes IX to XII, a scholarship of Rs 100 per month will be given only for two kids of the weaver.

However, for medical claim, handloom weavers can get a membership card as a premium amount of the policy. The health card accredits four family members of the weaver owing them the limited amount of Rs 75,000 for operations, treatments and medicines as per the requirement. The Central as well as the state governments also contribute in the coverage amount of the insured policy.

Apart from this, Narender Rautela, vice-chairman of UHHDC, spoke on providing maximum benefit for the development of the handloom sector through group insurance schemes. “The council, in association with the Government of India, is aiming at formulating multiple training centres for converting raw fabric materials into the end product. Forming of clusters and local groups, providing equipments, raw material, training, emporiums to display and a marketing team get relevant value for their work in a most effective manner,” said Rautela.

Weavers, who are a part of local handloom clusters at Dharchula, Munshiyari, Dunda and Mangalore and participants from other states like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Orissa and Assam came to attend the convention.

Present on the occasion were SC Nautiyal, Assistant Director (Industry), and CEO, UHHDC, GC Pandey, Deputy Director (Industry), Fateh Bahadur, Assistant Director (Handloom), Tanuja Prasad, Deputy General Manager, NABARD, Joginder Maurya, ICICI Lombard and many more.