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Uttarakhand Cong got nothing to cheer about
BC Khanduri
Asserting herself cost Ranjana dear
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Delimitation forces big leaders to scout for new seats
UPA govt misleading people: CPM
Disaster-management work reviewed
Girl levels rape charge against student leader
SDM discusses R-day plans
Misuse of Domestic LPG
DM inspects construction work of Roadways bus stand
4,000 migratory birds counted at Asan
Vice-Chancellor of Uttarakhand Ayurveda University Satyendra Mishra meets
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in Dehradun on Thursday. Admn to celebrate election day on Jan 25 Youth Cong submits memo to DM Chidiyapur
Road
Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar (second from right) at a function
in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph
Mahant Devender Das honoured
Leopard declared man-eater
Bahukhundi appointed registrar
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Uttarakhand Cong got nothing to cheer about
Dehradun, January 20 Harish Rawat, the lone representative from the state in the Union council of ministers, whose portfolio as a minister of state was changed from labour and employment to agriculture and food processing. It was believed that keeping in view the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in February 2012 in Uttarakhand, some more representation would be given to the state. It was rumoured that either Harish Rawat would be elevated as a cabinet minister or another Congress MP - either Satpal Maharaj or Vijay Bahuguna - would also be inducted as a minister of state. But this did not happen. After a long gap, the Congress had swept the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in the state winning all the five seats. With Assembly elections in Uttarakhand fast approaching, Congress leaders were hopeful that the party high command would induct another minister from Uttarakhand. Satpal Maharaj is a former Union Minister of State for Railways and represents the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat while Vijay Bahguna, son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister HN Bahuguna represents Tehri Garhwal. Vijay Bahuguna’s sister Reeta Bahuguna is President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. Uttarakhand Congress leaders were arguing that since there are two Union ministers from Himachal Pradesh, another senior leader from Uttarakhand should also be inducted in the Union council of ministers. They argue that it would have blunted the state BJP’s allegation of discrimination by the Central government against Uttarakhand in the run-up to the crucial Assembly elections.
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State got good representation under NDA govt: Khanduri Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) has criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government for neglecting Uttarakhand in the reshuffle. In a statement issued here today, he said that the UPA Government has not given anything to Uttarakhand as compared to the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He added that the NDA Government not only created the separate Uttarakhand state, but also gave it a special category status. In addition, Uttarakhand got the special industrial package till 2013. He said that during the NDA government, two MPs - him and Sushma Swaraj who was Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand - were made Cabinet ministers while Bacchi Singh Rawat, another Lok Sabha MP, was made a minister of state. Murli Manohar Joshi, who also hails from Uttarakhand, was another senior Cabinet minister. Khanduri said that in comparison, the UPA Government, despite having all five Congress MPs from Uttarakhand, has ignored the interests of the state. “Harish Rawat has been made Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing where already another minister of state is present,” he said. Khanduri charged that the Congress-led UPA Government has curtailed the special industrial package from 2013 to 2010 and now has completely ignored the state in the ministry reshuffle. These things clearly show the disrespect to the sentiments and aspirations of the people of the state.
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Asserting herself cost Ranjana dear
Pithoragarh, January 20 “The misuse of Ranjana Devi as Zila Panchayat Chairperson was initiated by members of her own family after she took oath of office. Her mentor, father-in-law Chandra Ram, who is a senior BJP leader and who had successfully pushed Ranjana’s name for the post of Zila Panchayat Chairperson due to his association with state BJP chief Bishan Singh Chufal, was actually running the show in the name of his daughter-in-law,” said a Zila Panchayat member. Interestingly, when Ranjana started asserting herself and did not allow her father-in-law to meddle in Zila Panchayat affairs, he got annoyed. He first tried to create a misunderstanding between his son and daughter-in-law and then went to a local deity praying to her to punish Ranjana,” said the member. “I was a poor pahari woman and was living happily at my village, but these people who wanted to use me for their vested interests ruined my life. Today neither the post nor the family is with me,” Ranjana told this correspondent. “After I started taking my own decisions these people with vested interests threatened me with dire consequences. When I neglected them, they started conspiring to get rid of me,” said Ranjana Despite the issuance of party whip, 13 members of the Congress also voted along with the BJP members to oust Ranjana. “She did not allocate schemes for my areas so I voted against her,” said a Congress member of the Zila Panchayat. Uttarakhand BJP chief Bishan Singh Chufal, who hails from the district, first came to rescue Ranjana to save the party the embarrassment of removing a Dalit woman from the post of Zila Panchayat chief, but later succumbed to pressure from her detractors who threatened to resign en masse if Ranjana was not removed. “It is for the first time in the history of Pithoragarh Zila Panchayat that a no-confidence motion was passed against the Chairperson,” said M Lunthi, president of the Pithoragarh District Congress Committee. Bora made interim chief of Zila Panchayat Pithoragarh: Virendra Singh Bora, Vice-Chairman of the Pithoragarh Zila Panchayat, today took oath as interim chairman of the Zila Panchayat. Bora was administered the oath by Pithoragarh District Magistrate (DM) NS Negi. “After the defeat of Ranjana Devi in the no-confidence motion yesterday, Bora has taken the oath according to the rules of the Zila Panchayat. He will enjoy the new post till the election for a new chairman takes place within six months,” said the District Magistrate. “According to the rules, the Atirikt Mukhya Adhikari of the Zila Panchayat writes to the DM that as the post of Chairman of the Zila Panchayat has been vacated, the approval to the Vice-Chairman to work as chairman should be granted,” said the DM, adding that he has granted the approval. — OC
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Delimitation forces big leaders to scout for new seats
Dehradun, January 20 The new delimitation of the Assembly segments, which has been based on the figures of 2001 census, has added to the troubles of many politicians who feel “displaced” either due to the complete abolition of their Assembly segments or merger of part of their Assembly segments in the realignment of the segments. As per the latest delimitation, due to dwindling population, the Garhwal as well as Kumaon hills have lost seats to the gain of the terai areas in the new dispensation. The latest delimitation has created problems for many of the senior politicians, including Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. His assembly segment of Thailisain in Pauri Garhwal district has been abolished and the areas included in the adjoining Assembly segments, forcing the Chief Minister to look for a seat for himself for the forthcoming Assembly polls. He had been nurturing the Srinagar Garhwal Assembly segment for the past one and a half years and had also announced to fight the election from there. But off late, he has also started exploring the possibilities of looking for a safe seat in the plains. His close aides are active in the Doiwala Assembly segment in Dehradun district and the Chief Minister himself has been attending even smaller functions in the different areas to explore the possibilities of choosing a new Assembly segment. Even the Dhumakot Assembly segment of a former Chief Minister, Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), has been abolished and if he decides to fight the polls he would have to look for another seat. Already his supporters are exploring the possibilities of shifting him to Kotdwar, a segment in the plains, which had been part of his Pauri Garhwal parliamentary seat. Another senior politician, who is scouting for a new Assembly seat, is Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat. He is a two-time legislator from the Lansdowne segment in Pauri Garhwal district but his segment has been realigned. He has also been looking for a suitable seat in the Doiwala and Aahaspur Assembly segments in Dehradun district. Last week, he held a rally of the party at Doiwala where his supporters gave him clear indications that he could contest from there. Former Congress minister Hira Singh Bisht is also looking for another seat since his Rajpur Assembly segment has been made a reserved seat. Ganesh Joshi, the sitting BJP legislator from Rajpur, is shifting to the neighbouring Mussoorie seat. The constituency of Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya, Mukteshwar in Nainital district, has been de-reserved. He will have to shift to the Nainital city segment, which has now been made a reserved seat. Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor would be forced to shift to the newly created segment of Dehradun cantonment since his Assembly seat of Dehra Khas has been abolished. Uttarakhand Minister Khazan Das, who represents the Dhanolti seat, would also be forced to shift to Rajpur since his segment has been de-reserved.
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UPA govt misleading people: CPM
Dehradun, January 20 Taking a jibe at the happy picture of prosperity in the country painted by the UPA Government, Sen said it was the misrepresentation of the fact in the country where unemployment had risen up sharply, mostly affecting villages. Farmers were committing suicide due to a crisis in the agriculture sector while middle men were getting empowered enough to decide who would hold ministerial chair at the Centre. Sen informed the meeting that all the trade unions and employees’ organizations, barring the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, from all over the country would lay a siege to Parliament House on February 23. He called upon the party workers to stir a public campaign to make their protest at Parliament successful. He also stressed the need to build a strong party in the state to fulfil the ambitions of the people. Before his address, general secretary Vijay Rawat presented a progress report of the party. He said: “The report delineates the state of the affairs in the state where the BJP Government is more concerned in serving their own vested interests than to serve the public, which became starkly clear during the recent rain-related disaster. Similarly, the Congress, which is equally steeped into corruption, has failed to play its role as an effective Opposition. In such a scenario, the CPM has brought up the issues of public concern with honesty.” The members observed silence for two minutes to pay homage to the party activists who were killed recently allegedly by the members of the Trinamool Congress and Maoists in West Bengal. The resolutions, which were passed in the meeting, included simplification of procedures to obtain domicile certificates, strengthening the Public Distribution System, distribution of BPL cards to poor people, amendment to the forest laws in the interest of public. Those who attended the meeting included Virender Bhandari, NP Jakhmola, Bhopal Singh Rawat, Lekhraj, Shiv Prasad Devli, Rajender Negi.
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Disaster-management work reviewed
Mussoorie, January 20 The important factor that came to light was that Mussoorie Nagar Palika was not allotted even a single work, despite sending the proposals under disaster head. The PWD Department were the most favoured department under this head and according to the SDM, more than 51 jobs have been sanctioned in Mussoorie Vidhan Sabha as the records suggest and out of which 31 have been allotted to the PWD Department, 3 to the Jal Sansthan and rest to the others. The Jal Sansthan had sent proposals of Rs 57 lakh, but only received Rs 30 lakh under the disaster head. SDM Manoj Kumar further said the Nagar Palika has not received any budget under the disaster management with despite to sending more than 8 proposals to the government. Speaking on the recent accident due to lack of parapets at the Mussoorie-Kemty road in which two persons lost their lives, the SDM Mussoorie said the PWD Department has been told to take action in this regard. |
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Girl levels rape charge against student leader
Dehradun, January 20 After receiving the advance payment of Rs 5,000 from her, he refused to get her the job. And when she insisted for the same, he took her to a place on the Mussoorie Road on the pretext of getting her a job. However, on the way he raped her and warned her of dire consequences if she reported the matter to anyone. Body found Body of a 30-year-old man was found under mysterious circumstances on the roadside at Adarsh Nagar Colony in Joligrant, Doiwala. The body has been identified as that of Santosh Kumar, a resident of Kanharwala Bhaniwala. The police has sent the body for the post-mortem examination. Family of the deceased has alleged that his friends had killed him. The police has found some injury marks on the body, however, the cops said they would be able to tell about it only after the post-mortem report comes. Some passersby spotted the body this morning and informed the police. As per the family of the deceased, he had gone with his friends last night to Ranipokhri and did not return. His motorcycle was found parked near the Durga Chowk.
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SDM discusses R-day plans
Mussoorie, January 20 The meeting was attended by the representatives various political parties. Suggestions regarding preparations for the Republic Day celebrations were sought from those present at the meeting. According to the SDM, blankets would be distributed among the poor on the eve of Republic Day on the Nagar Palika premises and on January 26 at all the government institutions would hoist the national flag on their respective premises around 9.30 am. The flag hoisting at the main function will be held around 11.30 am. He also said a friendly cricket match would also be played between the Press Club and government officials on the occasion. The SDM categorically said any politicisation of the function would not be tolerated and the public address by the representatives would be curtailed. Ravinder Goel, Rakesh Agarwal, Javed Khan, Vijay Ramola, Palika ward member Jasvir Kaur, Roop Singh Kathait and others were present at the meeting.
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Misuse of Domestic LPG
Haridwar, January 20 On specific directions from the District Magistrate, a two-pronged team was formed under City Magistrate R Shreedhar Babu and Sub Divisional Magistrate Harveer Singh to carry out raids on commercial establishments that are
using domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes. At city’s Ranipur, Chandracharya Chowk and Shankar Ashram stretches, dozens of cylinders were seized from hotels, restaurants, food joints, dhabas and roadside tea vends that were openly flouting the law. Caught redhanded misusing domestic cylinders, there was no resistance from the users. As soon as the news of the administrative checking drive spread, shopkeepers were seen hiding red-coloured cylinders, while those who didn’t have blue-coloured cylinders stopped their work altogether so that these were not seized. Informing The Tribune, SDM Harveer Singh said the drive was carried out in view of numerous complaints of misuse of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes. Illegal usage of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes has become rampant which is evident from the number of such cylinders seized from shops, be it big restaurants or roadside food vendors. He further said legal action would be initiated and more such drives would be carried out in the near future.
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DM inspects construction work of Roadways bus stand
Nainital, January 20 The project to shift the bus stand from its present place to a central point on the Nainital-Bhawali and Nainital-Haldwani roads behind the post office has been going on for close to four years now under the supervision of the Lake Development Authority. Bagauli instructed the officials to ensure that the project was executed in such a way that there was space for two vehicles to cross each other on the road. Bagauli ordered that the work for the construction of parks and shops at the proposed bus terminus was done well in time. He further directed that maximum parking availability be ensured once the project was completed.
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4,000 migratory birds counted at Asan
Dehradun, January 20 The rudy shelduck, numbering around 1,200, continued to be the species with the highest presence. The other major migratory birds counted, included nine bar headed goose, one falcated teal, one black neck grebe and one great crested grebe. A number of mallards and red crested pochards were also there. Birdwatchers, led by Wildlife Institute of India’s senior scientist Dhananjaya Mohan, conducted the census. One of the participants Bhumesh Bharti disclosed that the count was mainly focused on the migratory birds in the open. He admitted that the turn out of rudy shelduck was a little less this winter than the last count. Satpal Gandhi, Abhishek Harihar, Maushimi Ghosh and Suniti Dutta were other bird watchers who participated in the one-day count.
— TNS |
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Ayurveda varsity VC calls on Nishank Dehradun, January 20 Congratulating Dr Mishra on his appointment, Nishank said that Uttarakhand has a unique place in the field of ayurveda in the country. “In view of the immense potential of growth in Uttarakhand, the youth of the state might get significant employment opportunities in this field. The Uttarakhand Ayurveda University has to make significant efforts to establish the role of ayurveda in public health as the state is a storehouse of many medicinal plants. “The university should try to scientifically establish ayurveda at the international level by encouraging international-level research work. “I hope that the university will document its knowledge of the medicinal plants and also impart it to the common man,” he added.
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Admn to celebrate election day on Jan 25 Dehradun, January 20 At a meeting held today at the Secretariat, Raturi said the focus of the programmes would be to generate awareness about the importance of participation in the elections. “The first time voters in the age group of 18-19 years will be registered, while senior citizens, who are 100 years and above, will be honoured by the State Election Commission,” she said. Besides essay competitions would also be organised in 2,019 schools and a special programme would also be held at the Governor house on the same day.
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Youth Cong submits memo to DM Dehradun, January 20 Led by District General Secretary Mohan Kumar Kala, the party members gave the memorandum to the DM. They demanded check on illegal construction and cutting of tress in the city to save the state from becoming concrete jungle. Kala said under the Cantt police station area, the land mafias have illegally started construction near a river. The Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority had also brought this matter to the notice of the Dehradun SSP. He said other such land mafia issues have been brought to the knowledge of the police, but no action has been taken in this regard so far.
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Chidiyapur
Road Dehradun, January 20 Panwar said once this road was built, it would shorten the route from Garhwal to Kumaon by 50 km, which would mean a great saving of time, money and efforts. Besides these advantages, the commuters will be able to avoid taking the only possible route of going via UP where they had to pay a heavy sum as road tax. He added that the only obstruction in the road building was coming from the Forest Department, which was not approving this long-pending proposal. Shah told the UKD leaders that he would discuss the matter at the higher level and then forward the final proposal to Chief Minister and the Ministry Of Environment and Forest for further approval. Rawat was away to Haldwani on a scheduled visit.
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Gramin Bank inks pact with insurance firm
Dehradun, January 20 With this tie up, the entire sub-offices of the bank would be dealing with the common insurance products. The bank, in association with the insurance company, is also providing free accidental insurance worth Rs 1 lakh to its customers who have savings accounts in the bank. About Rs 50 lakh has been given as insurance claim to the beneficiaries from the state.
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Mahant Devender Das honoured
Dehradun, January 20 On the occasion, Virmani said, “Its an honour for Uttarakhand to have a saint like Mahant Ji, who works day and night for the welfare of the people. We wish him good luck and good health in future.” Deep Vohra, Arun Chamoli, Anand Bahuguna, Ganga Chhetri and Sanchit Gupta were present on the occasion. |
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Leopard declared man-eater
Dehradun, January 20 The Almora man-eater leopard had made 12-year-old girl Maya its latest victim four days ago, following which the Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden was forced to declare the beast as a man-eater. The forest authorities have sought the services of Moradabad hunter Joy Vehicle to gun down the leopard. Over a dozen forest officials are also in search of the man-eater. Meanwhile, cages have been installed at many places to catch the beast. |
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Bahukhundi appointed registrar
Dehradun, January 20 He has been appointed in place of Dr Shobha Rani Mishra who was facing a series of allegations and charges. In fact, the battle between Dr Mishra and some members of the parishad had brought its functioning to a standstill. Serious charges were levelled against her for allegedly giving rules a go-by while registering ayurveda doctors. |
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