Nainital, February 9
With the forthcoming Assembly elections in mind, the Uttarakhand Government is all set to launch a populist scheme to provide wheat and rice at the rate of Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg, respectively, to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries through the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) outlets.

The Above Poverty Line (APL) beneficiaries will get the same at Rs 4 and Rs 6 per kg, respectively, under the scheme that has been given the nomenclature of the Atal Khadyann Yojana.

The scheme will be formally launched across the state on February 11 from various district headquarters and other major towns in the presence of the ministers in charge of these districts.

Giving details about the implementation of the scheme, District Magistrate (DM) of Nainital Shailesh Bagauli said from the next month it would be ensured that the ration reached the godowns in the district by the 23rd of every month and a committee, comprising the Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) and Block Development Officers (BDOs), would carry out a stock check. A report for the same would be given to the District Magistrates the following day.

Over the next one week every month, the ration would be supplied to the various PDS outlets and during the first three days of every month a local or village-level committee would verify the stocks that have arrived. This would be followed by the distribution of the food grains.

Dehradun, February 9
The state government’s ambitious Atal Foodgrain programme for families in BPL and APL categories will roll out on February 11. The scheme is expected to provide relief to families reeling under price rise.

Under the scheme, BPL families will be able to procure wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg, while those in the APL category will be able to procure wheat at Rs 4 per kg and rice at Rs 6 per kg.

For the successful implementation of the scheme, the administration has prepared a foolproof plan, “Suverdhan, Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister, has been made the nodal officer for the programme and the officials concerned have been asked to undertake surprise checks of fair price shops for the smooth distribution of foodgrains,” said Dilbagh Singh, Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies.

Besides, on the day of the launch of the programme in the state by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, beneficiaries will be distributed 10 kg of rice and 10 kg of wheat on the spot.

A similar exercise will be undertaken at the district headquarters under the supervision of the District Magistrates.

Haridwar, February 9
As the first phase of Haridwar tri-level panchayat elections is nearing, there has been a sharp rise in the influx of liquor in the district, particularly in sub-urban and rural areas where the panchayat elections are scheduled.

Despite the moral code of conduct in place, the candidates, their supporters and the liquor mafia are leaving no stone unturned to make sure they win in the elections. All means are being used by most of the candidates to lure voters, of which liquor seems to be the main weapon.

Till date, illegal liquor worth more than Rs 40 lakh has been seized which was either being brought into rural areas or distributed as part of the election campaigning.

Despite administrative strictness, the election code is being violated in the district, which has put a question mark on the smooth conduct of polling and counting of votes.

Meanwhile, an excise team seized 60-odd cartons of English and country liquor from Dr Rajendra Singh Chauhan’s residence. Chauhan is contesting from Abidpur seat.

Several other candidates for village head, village panchayat and BDC posts have also been charged with indulging in accumulating and distributing liquor for election purpose.

Even though a case has been registered against the candidate, a visit to the areas where election campaigning is going on, shows distribution of liquor and even chicken and mutton, particularly from the election offices of the candidates.

When questioned, excise officer in charge Sanjay Kumar told The Tribune that the department was carrying out large-scale raids in the district. He said the department would be carrying out more such raids in view of the first phase of election just three days away.

In view of the massive usage of liquor, the police has intensified checking at all entry points of the district, particularly from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

The Superintendent of Police City, Dr KL Shaw, said round-the-clock vigilance was being carried out on the highways and sensitive areas to make sure illegal means were not used during the election campaigning.

Dehradun, February 9
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Harish Rawat has condemned the efforts by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to skirt the issue of alleged corruption in the conduct of Maha Kumbh at Haridwar in 2010.

He said the Union Government had given Rs 700 crore to the Uttarakhand Government for the successful conduct of the Maha Kumbh in 2010, but the state government failed to provide any permanent facility at Haridwar that could be used in future also.

Rawat said the CM had been citing a courtesy meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and using the state Chief Secretary as a shield. “This is not a good signal for the state and smacks of low category of politics,” he said.

Rawat further said the comparison between the Commonwealth Games and 2G Spectrum scams with the Maha Kumbh scandal was totally uncalled for. “In the Commonwealth Games scam as well as the 2G spectrum scam, the law is taking its own course and the guilty are being punished. The Congress has never shielded any tainted persons,” he added.

He also objected to the renaming of Uttarakhand Technical University by the state government after the name of former RSS chief Rajinder Singh.

Pithoragarh, February 9
For the first time, the Forest Department and bird watchers in the district sighted dozens of common merganser, a bird usually seen in Ladakh, in the waters of the Ram Ganga (Eastern) river.

“These migratory birds normally stay at the 3,000-m-high lakes and rivers of the Ladakh region and for the first time, it has been found in the Ram Ganga river,” said Manoj Chandran, District Forest Officer, Pithoragarh.

According to Chandran, these birds had been noticed migrating to the Kalagarh river earlier. “This is the first time that these rare ducks have been seen in any river in the district,” said Chandran.

“The zoological name of the common merganser is ‘Merges Merganser’. It is a large diving duck with long thin bill. It is mainly found in large lakes and rivers in the northern hemisphere. It has been seen in Ladakh, north America and Eurasia, north and central Asia.

“This duck migrates to lower valleys in October for six months and flies back in April-May,” he said.

Forest Department authorities said that with this duck, the number of migratory bird species in the district has gone up to 292.

Dehradun, February 9
Time and again cancellation of examination for the posts of physiotherapist has put a question mark on the intention of the government. For the past 10 years, the government has failed to appoint even a single physiotherapist at the district hospitals.

Despite the demand for therapists in government hospitals, the government has made a mockery of its’ advertisements. In the past two years, the government has advertised twice for these posts, raising the expectation of the aspirations only to cancel the advertisement later on.

“In May 2009, the Uttarakhand Government had advertised for 13 posts for which entrance examination and interview were to be conducted. Several eligible candidates had applied but soon their hopes were dashed to the ground as instead of announcing the results, cancellation notice was issued. Similarly in 2010, the government again advertised for 42 posts, but these, too, were cancelled,” said Ashwin, a physiotherapist.

Meanwhile, much to the consternation of the aspirants, this constant flip-flop by the government has made many of them ineligible. “Many candidates with Bachelor in Physiotherapy degree who had been waiting to bag a job in government hospitals have now become over aged,” said Yogender Dangwal, a senior physiotherapist at Doon Hospital.

According to officials, confusion regarding nomination of a competent authority for conducting entrance examination for the posts of physiotherapist was the main reason behind constant cancellation of advertisements. “Earlier, the examination was to be conducted by the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare but now the examination would be conducted by the Technical Education Board (Roorkee),” said Additional Secretary, Health, Ajay Pradyot.

Besides playing with the future of the aspirants, the government’s decision also indicates a lack of seriousness in according importance to physiotherapy.

“All district hospitals in the hills are functioning without physiotherapists. Their role is important for helping patients get back on track, especially those recovering from serious accidents,” said Dangwal.

Mussoorie, February 9
The tall claims made by the government of various health schemes being run for the benefit of the poor have no meaning for ailing Sunita Devi, a resident of Chaman Estate, Mussoorie.

According to Pramila, three years ago her mother Sunita had gone to collect fodder for her livestock and slipped from the tree breaking her spine in the process. In addition to that injury, she tragically suffered a paralysis attack and was unable to move from her bed.

“My father works as a small-time tailor. I was also forced to drop out from school to take care of my ailing mother,” Pramila said.

Pramila’s two brothers earned from running horses in the town and could manage only 10 per cent of the medicines required for their mother’s treatment. Pramila said sometimes the family had to forgo their meals to buy expensive medicines. Till now they had only received false promises and nothing else from the public representatives.

“Cabinet Minister for Disaster Management and Sports Khajan Das, Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi and several other public figures have visited my mother before the elections, but as the elections were over they vanish into the thin air with their false promises,” said Pramila.

Now, she was fed up with the tall claims of these public figures and with a picture of her mother and an application letter sought a meeting with the Chief Minister. She had been running from pillar to post for one sitting, where she could narrate her grim tale.

Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi consented that he visited her a few months back and had promised to get her treated at any hospital of the family’s choice, but there was no response from their side. He further said if ailing Sunita was still in need of treatment, he was ready to go out of the way to get her treated in any hospital.

Joshi said Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had provided relief to many ailing people of the state through various schemes and there was no reason why Sunita would not receive adequate treatment.

Dehradun, February 9
The Yamuna Ghati section of the Irrigation Department is busy working on the construction of hydropower projects- Arakot Tyuni (81 MW) and Tyuni Plasu (72 MW) worth Rs 1,300- after it got an approval from the Cabinet to create a corporation to arrange finances for hydro purposes in October last year.

Chief Engineer, Yamuna Ghati, Amirrul Hasan said Arakot Tyuni was cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), but several objections were being raised with regard to the Tyuni Plasu on every aspect by the ministry.

Hasan said, “The major objections were raised on hydrology and geology. The ministry wants us to release necessary amount of water into the river citing it necessary for the survival of the fish in the water body, whereas as per our assertion, this much quantity of water will severely affect the power production in the dam and fish, too, do not need that much water to survive. To solve the crisis, we have sought the services of the Science and Environment Department of Hemvanti Nandan Bahuguna University to prepare a report on the issue.”

The objections were raised at times for the sake of it, said Hasan and pointed out that they roped in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Uttarakhand branch, to prepare a detailed project report, which was finally submitted to the GSI, New Delhi.

Despite the fact that the report was prepared by their own department, it was still sent back with many objections. On the matter of preparing report on hydrology and geology, Hasan said they took help of the staff of the IIT-R.

Mere approval from the MOEF was not sufficient, as the department would have to clear umpteen roadblocks, the biggest one would be acquiring the forestland and agriculture land. In case of Arakot Tyuni, the department had already got clearance for 37 hectares of the forestland and 7 hectares of the agricultural land.

The challenge of meeting the requirement of the technical hands was also a tall order for the Irrigation Department, especially when the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UPSC) stayed the order of the appointment of 250 junior engineers.

Chief Engineer, BK Tamta, said he hoped that this bottleneck, too, would soon be removed. For the time being, they were hiring the retired personnel of the Irrigation Department, which the Cabinet had already approved. In the process, they have appointed some 20 retired employees by now.

Dehradun, February 9
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) today rejected Army officers’ plea to allow the force to carry out a further trial of the case in which six jawans in an allegedly inebriated condition were arrested by cops for creating a ruckus at the Premanagar Chowki.

According to Pradeep Rana, chowki in charge, Lt Col Sanjay Mohan and Lt Col VP Singh had filed a petition in the court yesterday to be allowed to take away these jawans.

However, CJM Amninder Singh rejected their plea holding that there was no such law to hand over them to Army officers since the chargesheet had not been filed in the case by the police.

Pritam Rana, Avinash Upadhay, Sandeep Pundir, Sandeep Rawat, Harish Bahuguna and his brother Satish Bahuguna were yesterday sent to 14-day judicial remand by the court.

They were accused of beating policemen and vandalising the property at the chowki on Monday night. All six were from 501 Field Survey Engineers Chir Bagh, the police said.

Dehradun, February 9
Leaders of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) met Garhwal Commissioner Ajay Nabiyal regarding the controversial appointments of 10 officials in the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) here today.

Nabiyal refused to reveal the content of the inquiry report citing it ‘secretive’ and asked the leaders to contact the state government instead on the issue. The group, led by general secretary Jay Prakash Upadhyay and district president NK Gusain, gave a memorandum to the Commissioner.

According to the memorandum, many irregularities were committed in the selection process, where much Junior Assistant General Manager DS Panwar and Shiv Kumar Gupta interviewed people for the higher post of the Deputy General Manager (DGM).

The memorandum also highlighted other irregularities- Sunil Pant, who graduated on February 27, 2007, had mentioned an experience of five years to fulfil one of the criteria for the selection for this post. His marks were also tampered with and still he was appointed.

Similarly, another appointee Ashish Sharma had no experience at all and his marks, too, were overwritten. Trilochan Nautiyal graduated in hotel management on November 1, 2006. Babita Badola, who made the exemplary jump from the position of a receptionist to DGM through this selection process, could not obtain passing marks, as she got 34/157. Rajesh Arya, too, scored poor in computer paper, whereas the knowledge of computer application was compulsory for the candidates.

The UKD leaders asked the Commissioner to re-look into these glaring discrepancies, cancel the appointments and ensure severe punishment to the IAS officer and his juniors involved in the scam.

Gusain said their party was taking this matter quite seriously and had already held protests and 48-hour hunger strike. They warned that if needed, they would resume 48-day protest in front of the GMVN premises, in case the state government did not take timely action on the issue.

The other leaders who met the Commissioner included Furkan Furkan Ahamd, Deepender Negi, Latafat Hussain and Sunil Bisht.

Nainital, February 9
Udham Singh Nagar District Magistrate (DM) BVRC Purshottam has asked officials to take immediate action to check illegal mining in the district. He has asked Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Kashipur, SS Jangipani to stop mining operations in Ajitpur.

Dr Purshottam has also asked Excise Officer PS Garbyal to check the illegal sale of liquor. He has asked him to work in co-ordination with the SDMs to check the menace.

At a meeting held at Rudrapur yesterday, Dr Purshottam asked the officials to expedite the collection of the revenue in the district. Expressing his displeasure at the distribution of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in the district, he has asked the officials, deputed for the purpose, to streamline the supplies to the consumers.

He has appointed nodal officers for the purpose and sought that the gas distribution be properly handled. He expressed his displeasure at the steps taken to check the anomalies in the gas distribution and asked District Supplies Officer NC Semwal to intensify the drive against the erring gas agency owners.

Dehradun, February 9
A Rishikesh-based woman has accused her husband of raping her, making an MMS, besides torturing her over the demand for dowry. She lodged a compliant with the police yesterday against her husband Ajay Sharma.

According to the police, the two had married in court. In her compliant, she alleged that Sharma had persuaded her to come with him and later had sex with her without consent.