Nainital, January 21
The façade of “Adarsh Rajya” and “Urja Pradesh” that the Uttarakhand Government is trying to erect amongst the masses came peeling off as Kumaon reeled under a severe power crisis with almost the entire stretch in the hilly terrain going without power for over 20 hours.

It was at around 7 pm on Thursday that a high-tension wire that supplies power to the entire hill terrain of Kumaon was snapped near Bhimtal and the entire region beyond Bhimtal was plunged into darkness. The personnel of the Power Department were unable to rectify the fault and the people had to undergo extreme misery in the prevailing cold weather conditions.

There has been no power in the hill terrain of Kumaon since 7 pm on Thursday when a high-tension wire snapped near Bhimtal

In the absence of power, there was no way that water supplies could be resumed as per the normal schedule. In several parts, particularly the urban centres of Nainital and Almora, tankers were pressed into service to supply water to certain areas. The Water Department awaited the resumption of power supplies so that the water could be pumped to residential areas. Hospitals along with several other institutions and enterprises were dependent on generators for their functioning.

There was anger visible amongst the common people on the failure of the government to provide them respite in the prevailing extreme weather conditions. “It is unthinkable that the power supply to the entire region is just hanging on one high-tension line. Anyone can create havoc by just sabotaging this power line. It is a shame for the government that goes around projecting the state as an Urja Pradesh,” said an agitated resident of Almora.

The people also showed their anger at the local media for downplaying the news pertaining to the power crisis.

Throughout the day calls to the Power Department office got the reply that power supply would be restored in the latter half of the day. However, there were no signs of power supply resumption till the filing of this report.

The region, including the parts of the plains, has been experiencing power shortage during the winter. Besides the increase in demand, the local faults are also responsible for the frequent cuts. Media reports say that the demand for power has gone up considerably in the one month past, on account of the prevailing cold weather conditions. This has been coupled with a shortfall in generation.

A few days back in an interaction with The Tribune the officials of the Power Department had admitted that the areas like Haldwani, Rudrapur and certain other parts of Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar were being subject to rotational cuts that go up to four hours while certain hilly parts of Almora and Nainital districts were facing cuts up to one hour daily.

The power infrastructure also experiences heavy damages in the event of a snowfall that is visible in the form of snapping of power lines. The department is anyhow struggling to put its infrastructure in place that was devastated in the rain-related disaster during the prolonged monsoon last year. There are still several poles and transformers that need to be repaired and put in place, they had added.

The officials say right now there is a supply line coming from Bareilly that is serving the entire region right up to Pithoragarh district. With the Chandok arrangement beginning, not only would there be two channels of supply for the region but the total dependence on Uttar Pradesh would also be over.

Dehradun, January 21
After the suspension of two earlier public hearings on environment due to opposition by public, the third public hearing for the Devsari Hydro Power Project being built on the Pindar river in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand proved to be a farce.

Interacting with mediapersons in Deharadun, Vimal Bhai of the Matu Peoples Organisation said today after the failure of the earlier public hearings of October 13, 2009, and July 22, 2010, due to public opposition of the dam project, the hearing fixed for Jan 20, 2011, too proved a farce. “This time the stake holders in the project were desperate to make this public hearing a success. To achieve this they completely took over the meeting and did not allow around 1,000 people, who stood in opposition to the project, to enter the venue of the meeting”, Vimal Bhai pointed out. The employees of Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL), which is constructing the dam on the Pindar river, and those who are supporting the project were allowed to attend the public hearing and express their views there.

“Even after entering the venue, none entertained the villagers’ petitions. They rather switched the mikes off when people opposing the project tried to take the stage. It was declared later that the hearing has been completed successfully,” Vimal Bhai alleged.

He, however, said with great difficulty they were able to submit a petition at the hearing.

He said residents of the affected villages have now decided to approach Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and the State Pollution Control Board to demand an independent inquiry into the anomalies surfaced during the third public hearing for this power project.

Haridwar, January 21
Four employees of a factory were killed and six injured in a blast at the oxygen-filling unit in the Bahadrabad industrial area, 7 km from here, today. The four employees, who were injured seriously, were referred to Dehradun. Two of them are in serious condition, according to the Haridwar District Hospital doctors who attended to the injured.

The incident happened around 11:30 am when the work to fill oxygen in cylinders work at Shivalik Air Product Oxygen Plant was going on. One of the cylinders exploded.

Had the fire not been controlled in time by the fire brigade the tragedy could have taken alarming proportion. The unit was barely 100 metre away from a gas plant of the petroleum company, Indane.

A magisterial inquiry into the incident has been ordered by Haridwar District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundaram.

The intensity of the blast was so high that people in the radius of 2 km heard the sound of the blast.

According to the injured, they were working in the plant when all of a sudden there was a major blast and before they could guess anything there was fire all around. The deceased included the unit manager of the factory. Superintendent of Police Kiran Lal Shaw said five fire tenders were pressed in service to control the fire and the whole was cordoning off to prevent the spread of fire.

“A bomb disposal squad inspected the blast site. It collected samples to find the cause of the blast. Emergency 108 vans immediately rushed the injured to the nearby hospital. We have registered a case at the Bahadrabad police station against the factory owner who resides in Muzaffarnagar,” said Shaw.

Meanwhile, Sundaram said he was in talk with the Labour Commissioner regarding compensation to the victims of the blast. In case there was no provision for compensation according to the factory law, he will be writing to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand to provide compensation to the families of the deceased as well as to those who were injured in the blast.

Dehradun, January 21
The members of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) today submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister and asked him to ensure that the labour laws were applied. Before meeting the CM they also agitated in the Gandhi Park here today. Senior leader of the union KR Kashyap stated that it had been long that a minimum wage committee has not been constituted. Other then this, the PDS system should be implemented so that inflation could be controlled.

He further mentioned that just like the BPL families, the APL families should also be provided ration and other items at fair prices, as due to their low salaries they have almost joined the category of the BPL families.

Kashyap further said the committee should announce Rs 10,000 as the minimum wages per month for the people who were working with the tea gardens, hotel works, schools/colleges and engineering industries etc.

The members of the AITUC also asked the CM to ensure that there was no fault in the EPF of the labourers, who were supplied by the former Sainik Welfare department.

Nainital, January 21
In a shocking incident, 35-year-old Vinod, a resident of Pant Nagar, allegedly killed his eight-year-old daughter, Suman, and hanged himself from the ceiling at his residence on Wednesday night.

According to information, the accused’s wife Manju went off to her sister’s place in K Block colony, along with her two children aged three and eight years. The cause of the rift is said to be an altercation between the couple after which Vinod returned home in an inebriated state. Vinod went after his wife to the house of latter’s sister. After creating a scene, he brought his daughter Suman back to his place, while Manju stayed there with their son.

Mussoorie, January 21
After taking cognisance of the report published in The tribune titled “Demand for having Lakhamandal in winter religious tourism circuit” dated January 11, Char Dham Vikas Parishad vice-president Surat Ram Nautiyal told the media here today that the Lakhamandal had been included in the proposal sent to Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to create a winter religious tourism circuit in the state.

Nautiyal said a meeting in this regard was supposed to be held yesterday but was cancelled unfortunately. He would put up the proposal before the Chief Minister once again.

He believed during the winter the weather remains clear and there is not much traffic on the roads. Most of the locals are idle during this period of the year. So, the winter religious tourism circuit would provide them work as also would boost tourism in the lean period of winter. He said this circuit would not only ease tourist pressure on the Char Dhams in the peak season but also generate employment for the youth of the state in the winter.

The proposal, which had been given to the Chief Minister, seeks to develop alternative places like Mukhba, Kharsali, Ukhimath and Pandukeshwar (Joshimath) for the proposed version of the yatra during the winter during which the gates of the main Char Dham temples remained closed.

Nautiyal said the Chief Minister had appreciated the proposal and he would chalk out plans to develop these areas by connecting these with other religious circuits like the Hanol temple and Lakhamandal.

Speaking about Lakhamandal, he said the place was revered since the time of the Pandavas and he would make efforts to get it on the religious tourism map of the country.

Dehradun, January 21
District president of the president of the legal cell and DP Singh and Amit Verma as vice-president of the cell. Uttarakhand Kranti Dal NK Gusai expanded the district working committee by appointing Kusum Rani as Gusai once again reiterated the demand of establishment of a High Court Bench in Dehradun or Haridwar.

He said, “The advocates of the district courts had been demanding for a High Court Bench in Dehradun for the last 30 years. Since their demand has not been fulfilled, they are continuously boycotting work on Saturdays.”

“This has led to further piling up of the pending court cases. Ultimately, it is the people, especially residents of Dehradun and Haridwar, who have to suffer the most as the maximum court cases are filed from these two districts. People have to travel to Naintal to attend the High Court. It is high time that the state government consider our genuine demand,” said Gusai.

“We will meet the Chief Minister to discuss this problem and if needed will lead a protest for it,” he said.

Dehradun, January 21
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has sought grants in the ratio of 90:10 for Uttarakhand in the Centre-sponsored schemes as being done in other special status states.

In a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Nishank also said, “Keeping in view the unique geographical situation and economic-backwardness of the state, the then Union Government had assigned special status to Uttarakhand in the 49th meeting of the National Development Council held in 2001 and called for continuation of the privilege.”

He said, “Uttarakhand is in no way less than the North-Eastern states of the country in terms of backwardness.” Nishank said 65 per cent land of Uttarakhand was under reserve forest land, because of which the state has been facing extreme difficulty in carrying out development work. The Centre has constructed state-of-the-art Green Field Airports in Sikkim and the other North-Eastern states, whereas Uttarakhand has not got any benefit of the sorts.