Dehradun, January 28
Rajbir of Muzaffarnagar district, who landed by a helicopter on Thursday at the Piran Kaliyar village, 6 km from Roorkee, and posed as a General Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, was arrested by the Roorkee police today from a hotel.

It reportedly was a surprise to the police who found during interrogation that the person in question was a hardcore criminal of Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the Roorkee police, a helicopter landed in Piran Kaliyar village on Thursday at about 11.30 am. However, the police did not have any information of the chopper’s arrival in the district and its landing in the village.

The five-seater helicopter, which was hired by Rajbir of Dayalpuram Colony, Khatoli, Muzaffarnagar district, was parked at the village by Rajbir and his friends who had gone to offer prayers at the Kaliyar shrine.

When they returned to the helicopter, they saw a huge crowd at the helipad. The scene angered Rajbir and he gave vent to his anger on two police constables reportedly deployed there for the safety of the chopper. He abused and manhandled them.

“He abused and manhandled two constables namely Sandeep Singh Negi and Hukam Singh. This led to the tearing of Hukam Singh’s uniform,” said SHO (Civil Lines) Jaimal Singh Negi.

Later, he flew in his chopper to an unknown destination. In the evening, the police got information that he was staying in the Sarovar Portico Hotel near Crystal World on the Roorkee-Haridwar national highway.

“We have arrested Rajbir and registered a case under Sections 323/353/505/506 of the IPC,” said Negi.

Today, during interrogation, the police learnt that he was posing as General Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress. In fact, he is a hardcore criminal and a history sheeter having 11 criminal cases against him in Muzaffarnagar.

“We learnt that he took a helicopter on hire at Rs 3 lakh for a day. We are investigating how he managed such a big sum for his air travel,” said Negi.

Dehradun, January 28
The state Congress today sounded the poll bugle and announced a series of protest programmes against the ruling state BJP Government. At a press conference in the State Assembly, Uttarakhand Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat said the Congress would be holding a series of protest programme against the BJP Government across the state, including a rally at Dehradun, which would take place at the start of the Budget session of the state Assembly.

Rawat said the Congress wants to expose the ruling BJP over the issue of under-utilisation of funds both on disaster relief and annual plan fronts. Referring to the relief provided by the Centre linked to recent rain disaster in Uttarakhand, Harak Singh Rawat said four to five months had passed since the rain disaster occurred in the state, but the state government was still to provide relief to the people.

He pointed out that the state government had so far failed to utilise even 50 per cent of the relief provided by the Centre. “The Nishank Government is asking for Rs 21,000 crore from Centre as relief, but has now even failed to utilise 50 per cent of Rs 500 crore already provided to the state,” said Rawat.

The Leader of Opposition also took the BJP to task over the issue of the relief distribution. He said the areas that fall under the Congress MLAs have been intentionally ignored in the relief distribution. Even in the case of the annual plan, the state BJP Government has never been able to utilise even 50 per cent of its plan fund since it assumed power in the state. He said the state government had sought Rs 75,000 crore from the Union Planning Commission for the next year, while its utilisation rate record has been very poor so far,” he said.

Dehradun, January 28
As the greying population in the state increases, the state government will not only have to focus on protection of the rights of the elderly, but also launch financial and health schemes.

Making a pitch for state-led support programme for the elderly, Governor of Uttarakhand Margaret Alva today said that in their twilight years, the elderly would immensely benefit if tax concessions are extended to them and they are given free health cards.

“The elderly should be able to lead a life of dignity and privacy and should have access to the highest attainable standards of health,” said Alva.

She was speaking today at a national seminar on ‘Protecting Human Rights of Older Persons’ organised by the National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with Anugraha.

She also called upon the Uttarakhand Government to implement the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007.

“It will help focus the training of care givers, nurses and prevent the abuse of the elderly. We also need to include a chapter on old age in the school curriculum and also take special care of women who are more vulnerable to abuse,” she said.

Earlier, PC Sharma, member, National Human Rights Commission, said that there had been a tardy implementation of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 in the country. “Most senior citizens are not aware of the Act, especially those residing in rural areas. We need to generate awareness,” he said.

Dr Aabha Chaudhary, social gerontologist and chairperson, Anugraha, has been advocating the cause of the elderly on the national platform and organising various awareness generation events, workshops etc.

The seminar was attended by over 400 retired persons, senior citizens, associations, non-government organisations (NGOs) from all over Uttarakhand. 

Mussoorie, January 28
The energy auditors with the mission to conserve energy have begun the task of baseline energy audit of the municipality in Mussoorie. The energy auditors from Energy Efficiency Services Ltd were out in the biting cold at night with their equipment like Lux Meter to gauge the amount of energy being used by the street lamps on the Mall Road yesterday. The detailed report and recommendations will be sent to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and thereafter measures will be taken to reduce the consumption level from existing level.

According to the energy auditor Manohar from Delhi, the exercise of energy auditing is on in several states, including Uttarakhand. He said with this energy audit, the Municipal Council of Mussoorie can make a strategy to conserve power and also save the public money in the process. He further said the LED street lamps are much better than CFL lamps as they are able to save around 35 per cent of power and help in reducing consumption. He also said that after creating baseline energy audit they would be submitting the data to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency who, then, will formulate conservation plan accordingly. Manohar further stated that energy audit will identify opportunities for financial savings by elimination of wasteful use of electricity without affecting the process or quality of product.

He informed that India is the world’s sixth largest energy consumer and accounts for about 3.5 per cent of the world’s total annual energy consumption, but per capita consumption of energy is very low at 631 kwh as compared to world consumption of 2,873 kwh, which needs to be increased to meet the goals of economic and social development. The installed power generation capacity has grown 94 times since the Independence and the total installed capacity of power generation in India has reached 1,40,627 MW (as on January 5, 2008).

However, there is still a peak demand shortage of around 14.8 per cent and an energy deficit of 8.4 per cent in the country. To mitigate shortage of energy in general and electricity in particular, in addition to augmenting the capacity of energy supply and its efficient use and conservation, the govt has initiated several policies to accelerate power generation and promote energy efficiency to meet power requirements.

Manohar further said demand side management has also begun in several states such as Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, who have identified bases on the report and grading system developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

Mussoorie Municipal Council executive officer Rohtash Sharma informed that the town was also planning to reduce consumption on street lights in the current fiscal. He said that DPR was being prepared for 500 lamp posts where the CFL lights will be removed and LED lights will be introduced. 

Dehradun, January 28
Members of the Uttarakhand Mahila Sadbhawna Manch took out a march today to press for their demands. Asha Kera, president of the Uttarakhand Mahila Sadbhawna Manch, said the government had failed to protect the interests of women activists who had neither received financial assistance nor government facilities akin to state freedom fighters.

“We call upon the government to undertake a survey of the activists who participated in the creation of the state, issue identity cards and bus passes for free travel and reserve seats in class III jobs and extend pension facilities for the activists who were jailed for 1 to 6 days,” said Kera. A memorandum was also submitted to the CM. — TNS

Dehradun, January 28
Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank reviewed progress of works being carried out under the announcements made on November 9, 2010. The meeting was informed that eight out of 19 announcements had so far been completed. The Government Order (GO) for three announcements had so far been issued and remaining eight announcements would be completed in the current financial year. Cabinet Ministers Diwakar Bhatt, Govind Singh Bisht and Vijaya Barthwal were also present.

On the issuance of GO for the sale of wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg, the CM expressed satisfaction and directed Chief Secretary to implement the scheme strictly. SDMs and DSOs had been made accountable for ensuring access of foodgrains to the internal godowns, he added. Besides, BDOs and officers at Nyay Panchayat had also been entrusted with the task of effective implementation of the scheme. For regular review and monitoring of the progress of Atal Khadyann Yojna, Additional Secretary Subardhan had been nominated as nodal officer.

Dr Nishank said the state government was committed to create 50,000 job avenues for the youths. He directed the Chief Secretary to review the recruitment being carried out under group-c.

Minister for Rural Development Vijaya Barthwal informed that setting up of mini secretariat was at final stages. As per the announcement of the Chief Minister, she said 11,000 women would be appointed anganwari workers by end of February at 5,000 additional anganwari centres. Besides, the process of 2,000 assistant anganwari workers would be initiated separately, she added.

Referring to the setting up of separate Directorate of Basic Education, Education Minister Govind Singh Bisht informed that process was in full swing and posts for the purpose was being upgraded. Besides, training and research directorate was also being set up along with Directorate of Basic Education. Administrative Order for free education up to degree level had been issued and it would be effective from next session, he added.

Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt said amendment in the Act would be done soon for nominal land revenue of Re 1. As against providing 1 lakh solar lanterns, 80,000 had been distributed and remaining would be distributed soon.

Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, Principal Secretaries PC Sharma, S.Swami, Secretaries Umakant Panwar, Om Prakash, Radha Raturi, Rakesh Kumar, Additional Secretaries Subardhan, Deepam Seth, Ajay Pradyot and other senior officers were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, January 28
Environment-sensitive practices are becoming increasingly important for many businesses and restaurant franchising is no exception. Soon, restaurants and dhabas in Uttarakhand will be encouraged to adopt green practices and given a green label.

Under the initiative of Research, Advocacy and Communication in Himalayan Areas (RACHNA) of Shri Bhuvneshwari Mahila Ashram (SBMA), restaurant and dhaba owners will not only be trained to adopt environment- friendly practices but they will also be helped to showcase Uttarakhand food that has high nutritional value and taste.

“In Uttarakhand, Green Dhaba/Restaurant programme has been created to enable dhaba and restaurant owners demonstrate their environment-friendly credentials to suppliers, customers and other bodies interested in green business. The public is becoming demanding and business owners take note of the public demands when it comes to the environment and hygienic conditions,” said Manoj Bhatt of RACHNA while launching the programme today.

Not only would the restaurant owners adopt hygienic practices but they would also be encouraged to increase the content of the menu by incorporating popular dishes of the state.

“One must understand that the tourists flocking the state do not come for leisure tourism, they look for restaurants and dhabas that are easy on the pocket. Uttarakhand offers wide array of dishes, but most of our dhabas dotting the Char Dham route don’t offer garhwali food. People coming from other places are keen to sample our food but we have been slow to grasp the unique selling proposition in terms of our food,” stressed Lakshmi Gausain, author of Uttaranchal Rasoi and a food expert.

The restaurant and dhaba owners would also be able to access credit facilities as the organisation has tied up with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). “They would be able to get a loan to the tune of Rs 2 lakh through SIDBI and all restaurants adopting green practices would also get green certification from third party,” said Bhatt.

Consumers are becoming more aware of the environmental impact of their personal choices and when it comes to a choice where to spend, “Besides serving Uttarakhand food, the restaurant owners would be encouraged to use briquettes reducing carbon emissions, use of non-toxic cleaning products, cooking oil for re-use and sourcing local and organic produce,” stressed Bhatt.