Pithoragarh, February 1
The cheap ration scheme, which was announced by the Uttarakhand Government, failed to take off on the scheduled day today, as the officers of the department concerned were not prepared for its launch due to the delay in the issuance of orders for its launch by the government.

“We received the government order concerning the scheme only on January 28. We had little time to prepare for the scheduled launch of the on February 1,’’ said NC Pant, regional marketing officer with the Regional Food Controller office at Haldwani.

The officer said as they had received the order, they had started procuring the quota of wheat meant for the scheme. “We have enough quota of rice for all six districts of the Kumaon region, but the procurement of wheat will take more than one week. After the procurement is complete, we will be able to act on the scheme,” said Pant.

The officers of the Food Department are extra alert, as the government has made it mandatory for the owner of the shop to get its quota for the scheme checked by the authorities. “The government has made a system to form committees for checking the shops earmarked the under the scheme. The District Supply Officer has been assigned the responsibility. The ration quota will have to be picked up a month in advance,” said the officer.

According to sources in the Marketing Department, for the Kumaon region, the quota of ration under the scheme is 5870.50 metric ton of wheat for the APL cardholders and 1574.80 metric ton for the BPL cardholders. The Antyodaya Card holders will have 700.840 metric ton quota of wheat. “As regards the rice quota, we have 986.70 metric ton for the APL cardholders, 3802.84 metric ton for the BPL cardholders and 1649.10 metric ton for the Antyodaya cardholders in the six districts of the Kumaon region,” said the a marketing officer.

The officer said from the March, the scheme would run smoothly. The preparations for lifting of ration and having a monitoring system will have to be worked out this month only, he added.

Mussoorie, February 1
The Kshetra Panchayat Sadasya Sangathan has lambasted the government for not implementing the Panchayat Act in the state, thus impinging on the rights of the elected members of the panchayats in Jaunpur. The agitated members of the association aired their grievances at a press conference held at the premises of the local Press Club today.

Meherbaan Singh Rawat and Akhilesh Uniyal, president and vice-president of the organisation, respectively, said as all were aware that India is a nation that resides in villages, the builders of our Constitution had envisaged a three-tier Panchayati Raj system and incorporated it in the country’s democratic setup with the objective of including the villagers in the development process. The state of Uttarakhand was also formed on similar grounds keeping the village development in the forefront and more than 70 MLAs were chosen to raise the voice of the state people. But, the state government has completely neglected the public representatives at the first rung of the Panchayati Raj system by not implementing the Panchayat Act in the state yet.

Uniyal further said the bureaucracy, who is in complete control of the state, has made the Panchayati Raj system impotent by not providing it the rights, which it deserves under the Act. Until the Gram Pradhans, Block Pramukhs and Zila Panchayat members are not given full rights under the Act, the state machinery will not function properly and the fruits of development will not reach every person in the state.

He said they had decided to form a Mahapanchayat Association in near future to fight for their demands and rights and strengthen the Panchayati Raj system.

The association has demanded from the government an increase in the fund allocation for the panchayts so that they can bring in quality development. Their other demands are the villagers be given adequate employment days under the MGNREGA scheme, due importance be accorded to be accorded to the proposals passed by the Zila Yojana Samiti, one member from the Niyojan Samiti be nominated for the Zila Niyojan Samit for strengthning the panchayats, an honorarium be given to all the kshetra panchayat members for they have to come from far-off villages to attend the block-level meetings.

The members have warned that if their demands are not met soon, then they will begin a mass movement against the government.

Anil Panwar, Anil Dutt, Kavita Bisht, Vimla Devi, Harshdev, Savita Gaud, Parvati Devi, Savitri Negi and others have supported the demand of the association.

Dehradun, February 1
Residents of Dehradun will have to pay self-assessed house tax in the near future. The administration has given its nod for the same, though the government order is still awaited.

Confirming this, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli said in the first phase the Municipal Corporation would be collecting house tax from new areas that had come under the nigam recently.

“Earlier, we had just 45 wards, but these were later extended to 60. We would start taking tax from ward Nos. 46-60 in the first phase and also from the people of older areas who have recently constructed the building,” he explained and added, “People need to self-assess the tax before paying. We will be taking tax from other wards in the second phase soon”. 

Dehradun, February 1
The Governor of Uttarakhand, Margaret Alva, has said The New India Assurance Company must widen focus on rural and semi-urban areas of Uttarakhand.

Delivering her address after inaugurating the new regional office of the company in Dehradun, the Governor said: “The insurance sector must cater to the untapped rural population. ‘Inclusive insurance’ must not be driven only by security and profit compulsions, but also by the realisation, that there is a huge area of ‘unmet demand’ for insurance in the state”.

On the occasion, the Governor expressed the hope that the new office would assist in catering to the ever-expanding needs of its customers and equip itself to redress their grievances and give them claims promptly. “An occasion such as this comes but once in the lifetime of a state. Uttarakhand, which is a new as well as a growing state, will definitely benefit from this new office and I am sure the business of the company will also grow in a big way here,” she said.

The Governor lamented that in spite of the many achievements of the country’s insurance sector, India was among the most under-insured countries in the world. “The insurance picture becomes dismal as one moves from urban areas to the rural hinterland. Here the insurance penetration rate is as low as 3 per cent, among the lowest in the world. This is largely because insurance companies have traditionally targeted the more easily reachable urban clientele. This is a total negation of the driving motive behind the nationalisation of the insurance sector,” she said.

The Governor said: “The biggest stumbling block for the insurance companies by far is a poor understanding of the rural customer. A case in point is the sale of policies to cover livestock. When the companies sell a policy to cover livestock, they want a certificate from a veterinarian, even though the nearest one might be miles away. This lack of understanding of the ground reality is often the reason for the poor performance of insurance sector in these areas. The insurance melas must be made part of annual farmers melas, so that a wider reach can be ensured”.

People in rural areas had little understanding of what they were paying for and how their claims were likely to be settled in the case of a calamity. “Therefore, insurance companies have to create awareness among prospective customers and design policies which are simple and easily understandable with simple people friendly procedures relating to claim benefits,” she added.

Those who were present on the occasion include M Ramadoss, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of The New India Assurance Company, AR Sekar, Director and General Manager, IS Phukela, Director and General Manager, SBL Gour, General Manager, Parvinder Singh, Chief Regional Manager, and ADC to the Governor Major PPR Chaudhary.

Dehradun, February 1
Agitated members of the Sahastra Sena Bal (SSB), also known as guerrillas, staged a dharna in support of their demands in front of the state Assembly here today.

The protestors shouted slogans and held a state-level meeting to frame a future course action of their agitation against the state government. The group has threatened to gherao the Vidhan Sabha on February 13, that is on the first day of the Assembly session as a mark of protest.

The agitators have also criticised the administration for ordering lathicharge on them in the past.

It is relevant to mention that the guerrillas are demanding that the state government should provide them with permanent jobs while giving pension to the members who had crossed the eligible age of the recruitment. 

Nainital, February 1
The Tibetan community in Nainital has come out strongly in support of the 17th Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje who is in the centre of a controversy following the seizure of nearly $1.6 million from a monastery in Dharamsala recently.

The community has started a week-long prayer session here in support of the Karmapa. A spokesperson of the community Tenzin Jigmey told The Tribune, “For one week, shops in the Tibetan market will remain closed for one-and-a-half hours daily and prayers will be held expressing our support for the Karmapa who is innocent and a revered spiritual leader. All Tibetan organisations are supporting the cause”.

The community is agitated over the suggestions in sections of the media regarding the Karmapa’s link with the Chinese authorities. China has already denied such allegations. There are about 300 Tibetan families in Nainital.

A leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress Yeshi Thuptel said, “The money seized from the monastery are donations received by the Karmapa. Devotees, coming from Tibet which is under Chinese occupation, will obviously offer Chinese currency. We do not understand why such a hue and cry is being made”.

The Tibetans aired the reported stand of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and reiterated that a thorough probe should be carried out in the matter and things be made public so that no doubts remain.

“Things should not be left midway. We are confident about his innocence and people too must be provided with the facts. The Karmapa has followers all over the world and the donations made are in different currencies,” said Jigmey.

The Karmapa is the head of the Kagyu sect and one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important leaders. He is perhaps second only to the Dalai Lama who is Head of the Gelugpa sect in terms of being revered.

Dehradun, February 1
More than 600 patients were screened at the two-day dry eye camp organised at the Military Hospital, Dehradun.

Commandant Brig AK Varma of Military Hospital, Dehradun, inaugurated the camp.

Ophthalmologist Lt Col (Dr) Avinash Mishra checked all the patients and explained to them the signs and symptoms as well as the precautions to be taken to prevent the disease.

Medicines were distributed to the needy.

In this camp staff members, including Naik Narender Prasad, Sepoy DV Chhetri and lady attendant Savita, also played an important role. 

Mussoorie, February 1
Another Garhwali music album chitramala, titled “Kuchh Boli Jaa”, was released by chief guest Anil Godiyal, convener of the BJP district cultural cell, at a hotel here yesterday. The music album is produced by Bhagwati Videos.

Music album director Kailash Dangwal said this was his third release and the previous album titled “Man Biranu” was much appreciated by the audience. “Kuchh Boli Jaa” consists of 12 songs raising socio-cultural issues of the region.

Dangwal further said Richa Naudiyal, who appeared in a serial by Colors channel titled “Badki Bhauji”, also featured in one video song of the album.

Chief guest Godiyal commended the efforts of the director-producer for keeping the Garhwali culture alive through video albums. He lauded the efforts of Dangwal who has honed the skills of child artistes from Uttarakhand and provided them a platform in the past several years. Child artistes Gunjan, Pooja and Poonam have lent their voice to the album.

The music is copmposed by Sumant Panwar and the dance direction is by Arun Farasi. The video has been edited by Sunil Rawat and the camera work has been done by Shivendar Rawat.

Famous Garhwali folk singer Jitendar Panwar, Prashant Rawat, Mohan Petwal and artistes of the video album were present on the occasion. 

Dehradun, February 1
A 21-year-old youth died after he was hit by a truck, which was carrying sugarcane, near Panditwari Chowk here this morning.

He was taken to a hospital, but was declared brought dead by doctors on duty. The driver of the truck fled from the scene after the incident and the police is trying to trace him.

According to in charge of the Panditwari police station, deceased Devender Singh Rawat was trying to overtake the truck (UP78-E-9078) on his motorcycle when he met with the accident. A passerby informed the police.

The deceased was a resident of Shampur and son of a Kargil martyr. He was going to the market when he met with the accident. 

Dehradun, February 1
A local court today sent Jaideep and Sunny, who were arrested in connection with yesterday’s murder of Naresh Rao, alias Pappu Kaalia, to two-day police remand.

Jaideep had allegedly shot dead Naresh, one of the witnesses in the sensational Babbal murder case, last night in a moving car near the ISBT. He was shot by his pistol, but the police is yet to recover it.

The police said Pankaj, a friend of Jiti who allegedly killed Babbal, is absconding and it is being suspected that he must have fled with the pistol. The police will try to trace Pankaj on the basis of the information it will gain from the duo in the remand.