Pithoragarh, March 1
Hundreds of people gathered under the banner of the Bharat Swabhiman Trust and Patanjali Yoga Samiti, in the Kumaon region today to support yoga guru Baba Ramdev in his pursuit to remove corruption from the country and bring back the black money deposited in tax havens.

In Pithoragarh, trust members took out a procession which concluded at the DS Bisht Ground. “The Baba has now started a campaign to oust corrupt people from public life, and the time has come to organise under his leadership,” said Rita Kapri, district in charge of the women’s wing of the trust.

In Champawat district, the trust members took out a procession at the district headquarters and submitted a memorandum to the SDM. “If the money deposited in Swiss banks can be brought back to the country, lack of finances for developmental schemes in the country can be removed,” said Rajendra Gahtori, general secretary of the trust.

In Lohaghat town of Champawat district, a procession led by Sachin Joshi, the tehsil in-charge of the trust, handed a memorandum to Tehsildar Anil Shukla.

“We are now fully organised under Baba Ramdev to fight against corruption,” said Ravish Pachauli, a trust member.

Processions were also carried out in Tanakpur, Dharchula, Berinag, Gangolihat, Banabasa and Khatima areas of the Kumoan region.

“We have submitted a memorandum signed by 8,000 followers of Baba Ramdev to Tanakpur SDM SC Dwivedi,” said Rajesh Mohan Saxena, a follower of the trust.

Srinagar (Garhwal), March 1
The Centre needs to relax its rigidity on hydro-power projects and the Forest Act. This was stressed by the Youth Wing of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) at their meeting held at Srinagar, Garhwal, on Sunday.

Rajpal Singh Rawat, president of the wing, said the Centre had to begin the functioning of shut-down hydro-projects in the state to prevent the exodus of unemployed youngsters from villages situated in the hill region.

He brought attention to the fact that the state, of which 66 per cent area was forest covered, needed to amend the Forest Protection Act in order to develop road and rail passage in the middle of the forests. He questioned the stringent attitude of the Central Government on this regard. It had relaxed this for other hill states like J and K and Himachal Pardesh.

Rawat praised Revenue Minister and president of their faction of the party Diwakar Bhatt for providing cheap foodgrains (ration) to the poor, thus fulfilling the promise he had made to the electorate in 2007.

Anil Panwar, president of the Youth Wing, UKD, Srinagar unit, was the convener of the meeting.

The others who were present included DK Pal, Sunil Kukreti, Anil Panwar, Deepak Khanduri, Pankaj Rawat and Lokesh Thapa etc. 

Doiwala, March 1
The Doiwala unit of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) held a party meeting where district president NK Gusain urged party activists from Doiwala, Chiddarwala, Shyampur, Rishikesh and the DPL unit to come in large numbers to lay siege to the Vidhan Sabha, on the first day of the Budget session in Dehradun on March 14.

He asked them to keep in close contact with the public and become a medium to solve their problems. After the meeting, a delegation led by Gusain and Doilwala block president Hukum Singh met Block Development Officer (BDO) Savitri Rawat. The delegation sought information on the various schemes being run in the block and the progress report of the past five years.

The problem of confusion prevailing over cheap ration and the complaints regarding stones found in ration were also put before her.

The delegation comprised district vice-president Mohan Singh Rawat, district general secretary Kender Pal, Balbir Singh and Chandan Singh Sajwan.

Dehradun, March 1
With the Assembly session round the corner, several unions have intensified their stir and the latest to join the agitation are nurses of government hospitals. From tomorrow nurses (male and female) serving in Doon Hospital, Coronation Hospital and SPS Rishikesh Hospital will limit themselves to one-shift duties.

Angry at the non-cooperative attitude of the government that has been big on promises and poor on commitments, members of the Uttarakhand Nurses Service Association has once again revived their agitation. “The Uttarakhand government is anti-women. It has not accepted the demands of anganwadi workers and nurses, and has been making empty promises to us. If the government fails to take up the matter, we will go on an indefinite stir from March 8,” said Anjana Bhowmick.

Members of the Uttarakhand Nurses Service Association are demanding upgradation of basic pay on the pattern of the Central Government. (The upgradation is Rs 4,600 for staff nurses, Rs 4,800 for sisters and Rs 5,400 for matrons).

Evoking work as per rule, Bhowmick said: “We will be performing one shift from 8 am to 2 pm from March 2 to 4 at Combined Hospital, Base Hospital, Women’s Hospital and District Hospital, except Combined Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs)”.

It may be pointed out that the association members had withdrawn their stir in 2009 after the then Principal Secretary, Health, Keshav Desi Raju had assured them of speedy implementation. 

Mussoorie, March 1
Residents of Mussoorie, along with Municipal Council (MC) President OP Uniyal, at a meeting held with officials of the Peyjal Nigam objected to the manner in which sewerage was being laid in the town. Members of the Hotel Association and traders lambasted the officials for the alleged sub-standard work being done by the nigam in laying the sewerage, which has created a chaotic condition in the whole town.

President of the Trader Association Rajat Agarwal alleged that the work being carried out was just eyewash and a misuse of the JNNURM funds.

Members of the association said digging was done right in the middle of the road and trenches were not filled after the sewer lines were laid. It inconvenienced tourists and schoolchildren.

Ward members alleged the nigam officials were in cahoots with the contractors and they were sub-letting various related projects to smaller contractors due to ulterior motives. Arshad Ali, a resident, questioned the reason for digging the road to lay the sewerage, as the old sewerage, which was set up during the British era, was laid away from the road.

Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) member Hugh Gantzer, who attended the meeting in the capacity of a senior citizen of the town, said the sewerage project was not being handled systematically and there was no project technique review system in place.

However, he said the new sewerage was the need of the hour but it should not be laid piecemeal and in a haphazard manner. He said the sewer and water pipelines laid side by side could lead to a major health problem if the two lines got burst at the same spot.

Sonu, a resident of Landour, said the roads were being dug up without taking into consideration the underground telephone cables, which got damaged in the process, leading to immense communication problem for the residents. He said the role of the MC president was not proactive towards the problem and he was merely indulging in cosmetic service in this regard. A heated exchange of words followed between Sonu and Uniyal following this allegation. Uniyal even picked up a paperweight to hit the resident from Landour, but was stopped by other officials standing beside him. The Executive Officer remained a silent spectator to all that drama.

Executive Engineer of the nigam SK Jain said the problems raised by the residents were not in his knowledge. He assured the residents that all the issues raised at the meeting would be addressed effectively in the near future. He also said around 4 or 5 km of sewer line had been laid in the town and around 65 km of more line had to be laid.

Meanwhile, Uniyal said it had been agreed upon at the meeting that the nigam would complete the pending work to lay the sewerage till March 30 and halt the project after that in view of the beginning of the tourist season. 

Dehradun, March 1
There has been a subdued reaction by the industry here to the Union Budget. Those expecting big-time sops are a disappointed lot. From the point of view of the industry, especially the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs), this year’s Budget offers fewer sops.

“The loan limit offered through the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has been enhanced from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore. There are around two lakh SMEs in the state and this announcement will have a positive impact,” said Pankaj Gupta, president of the Industries Association of Uttarakhand.

He said for Uttarakhand industries, the Central Budget had two key impacts. The first one was on the state's revenue share of the Central Government taxes, and the second was its impact and influence on its industrial development as it would have a bearing on the economy, the government's VAT and local tax collection.

By and large, the expectations of the industrialists like reductions in income tax and service charge were not met. “The increase in the rate of minimal alternate tax (MAT), which is already very high, is going to add to our overall tax burden,” said Anil Goyal, general secretary, Industries Association of Uttarakhand.

Dr Chetan Sharma, a leading cardiologist and Managing Director of Bharat Heart Centre, said, “The imposition of new service tax for treatment in any air-conditioned hospital with a bed capacity of more than 25 means adding 10 per cent to patient’s total hospital bill. It will only raise the bills of patients,” said Dr Chetan.

Industry sources say that the raising of excise limit from 4 per cent to 5 per cent will boost the pharmaceutical sector in the state.