Dehradun, April 6
The Bhartiya Janata Yuwa Morcha today took out a motorcycle rally to celebrate the 31st founder’s day of the BJP.

Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister flagged off the rally from Dehradun, which criss-crossed various parts of the city.

In his brief address, the minister said the BJP had achieved several goals in its long history. He also said the nation had witnessed speedy development under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the term of the NDA Government.

BJP leader Teerath Singh Rawat said the party would organise a series of conventions. He said the wrongdoings of the Congress Government at the Centre would also be highlighted at these conventions.

Meanwhile, in the Haldwani office of the BJP, party workers took out a rally led by former Union Minister Bachchi Singh Rawat. Addressing the gathering, he said people’s faith on the BJP was growing by the day, both at the national level and in Uttarakhand.

Several other programmes were also held across the state to celebrate the occasion.

Mussoorie, April 6
Property and belongings worth thousands of rupees were reduced to ashes when a fire broke out in a house owned by KS Bisht near 12 Scissors Road in the Panwar House compound here today.

Acording to the police, the fire broke out around 11 am. Panic prevailed in the entire locality with people throwing water to douse the flames. All attempts top stop the fire failed and the belongings inside, including insurance papers and other important documents, could not be saved. A college professor also suffered minor burns while trying to extinguish the leaping flames.

The fire victims were of the view that the house caught fire after a sudden electricity surge leading to the short circuit. Cows in the adjacent stable were saved by the neighbours.

Mussoorie, April 6
Eying the forthcoming Assembly elections, a cadre camp of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was held at a wedding point here today with an objective to galvanise party workers and spreading the party message to every nook and corner of the state.

Addressing the gathering, state BSP president Dr Meghraj said the cadre camp was being held to ponder on the ways to increase the party base in the hills of the state.

Meghraj said they were imparting training to the cadres and preparing them for the 70 MLA segments in the state through the camps. He also said they were preparing the workers for the sector-level committees and booth management, so that the BSP rode the elephant in the hill segments of the state, too.

He said the BSP was going in the elections with the issues of caste and domicile certificate problems being faced by people. He also said employment would be another issue on which the BSP would raise awareness in the state.

He said the Congress and the BJP being old parties had lost their sheen, whereas the BSP, being young and under the able leadership of Mayawati, would come to power in the state, too, and provide respite from the misrule of the BJP and the Congress.

Nainital, April 6
Almora and Bageshwar districts have become a centre of protests by people on various issues. Residents in various parts of these districts have taken to street protests for their demands and accusing the state government of betraying their aspirations over the past couple of days.

The SSB-trained guerillas once again held a massive protest yesterday at both the district headquarters in support of their demands. Hundreds of agitating guerrillas participated in the protests and submitted memorandums to the Union Home Ministry and the state government through the local administration.

They charged that while their counterparts in the North East and some other states had been provided with regular employment, all that the guerrillas of the state had got till now were empty promises. They reminded the administration that it was now more than 500 days since they started their agitation.

In Bageshwar, they threatened to boycott the next Assembly elections in the state, if their “genuine” demands were not addressed “sympathetically”.

Earlier during last year, Congress Lok Sabha members from Almora and Nainital had taken up the long-pending demands of the SSB-trained Guerrillas of the state with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. Both Pradeep Tamta and KC Singh Baba had written letters to the Home Minister asking him to solve the problems of the affiliates of the Guerrilla Warfare Organisation of the state, but the matter continues to hang fire.

Both these districts of Almora and Bageshwar are also witnessing protests by trained yoga teachers, who are demanding regular employment in various schools. They have attacked the state government for its wishy-washy policy regarding the yoga teachers and charged that the government has failed to even come out with a clear-cut government order regarding their appointment, what to talk of its implementation.

The protesters have also opposed the moves of the government to employ them on contractual basis, while paying them a remuneration of Rs 5,000 per month.

Meanwhile, the bhojan matas have also raised the banner of protest in Almora demanding an increase in payments made to them. They held a protest meet at the auditorium of the local municipality, where the leaders demanded that the bhojan matas be paid at least Rs 5,000 per month around the year and also be given a paid vacation of 10 days.

The statehood activists have also launched an agitation in Almora, demanding parity in pension benefits and equal opportunities. They have started a dharna on the Collectorate premises accusing the government of ignoring those who had fought for the formation of the state.

On the other hand, residents of the Pali and Pachaun areas of the Chaukhutiya area of Almora have also constituted a body to launch an agitation for realising certain demands. Their demands include the construction of a ropeway in Naithna, introduction of new trades in the local Industrial Training Institute (ITI) and proper appointment of teachers etc.

Dehradun, April 6
A renowned cement company organised a workshop on the premises of Uttrakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited on earthquake resistant methods. In the workshop, it was stressed that builders, owners and contractors should be conversant with such useful information.

It was stated that the right proportion of cement, concrete and other material was important to make buildings safe from tremors.

UJVNL, Operation Director, BCK Mishra said old buildings which were not equipped with such a technology could be fitted with it thereafter.

Some 60 participants from UJVNL attended the workshop. Director, Planning, KK Singh, Executive Director Sandip Singhal, General Manager SK Chopra and Prakash Rawat were present.

Dehradun April 6
Pushed in a corner due to the utter negligence of the state government, the Uttarakhand State Industrial Development Corporation (USIDC), which was created to take over the biggest construction projects of the state up to Rs 800 crore, had to be content with the grant of petty projects and a sanction of mere Rs 20 crore in the past two years since its inception.

The ceiling of any project above Rs 5 crore, to be passed onto the USIDC, had also been diluted with the upper limit brought

down to one crore only. The organisation, which was to be armed with technical and administrative staff of 187, has now a meager workforce of 56 only. The morale of higher and lower rung has plummeted to its lowest level with many leaving the organisation for better career prospects outside.

Also, the taking over of the reins of a sick USIDC is now considered a “punishment posting” by the bureaucrats.

The lacklustre enthusiasm of the state government towards this corporation and the conjecture made out of “punishment posting” in the backdrop of switching over of bureaucrats, are some of the salient features responsible for the decline of the USIDC.

Corporate advisor HP Vyas said, “Since the USIDC’s inception, there have been ominous signs with its first MD Atul Kumar remaining sick for the initial eight months, and then abandoning it for good. He was followed by SM Ramachandran, who was forced to leave the corporation after strong protests by the employees over his autocratic style of functioning.

After Ramachandran, present MD Lalit Mohan has shown interest in bringing back the corporation to its supposed glory”.

One of the officers of the corporation, Col Dinesh Chandra opined that if the state government did not want the USIDC in

the first place, it could have equipped the PWD with another department to handle similar projects aimed for the USIDC.

The change of government in the state also spelt doom for the USIDC. Reliable sources said this corporation was conceptualised and created by the then Chief Minister BC Khanduri of the BJP Government. After the coming to power in June 2009, the government of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, did not appreciate the structure of the USIDC created during the tenure of the previous government.

The state’s preference for Uttar Pardesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN) has also added to the woes of the USIDC. Col P Thapliyal, Chief General Manager, Project, said, “All the big projects are given to the UPRNN, a working agency of Uttar Pardesh state government, which is getting richer by earning 12 per cent on each project, while the state’s own agency, the USIDC, is devoid of any significant projects”.

Another officer, on the condition of anonymity, complained of a tussle between the USIDC and the PWD regarding the approval of projects and the sanction of funds. But Chairman of PWD Lalit Mohan, who is also in charge of the USIDC, did not buy the contention.

He said, “I am putting the right perspective in favour of the USIDC before the CM, as I want the corporation to do better than an outside agency like the UPRNN. There is no question of competition with the PWD which is handling projects worth Rs 5000 crore”.

However, it is still to be seen when and how the USIDC manages to rise from its ashes.

(Concluded)

Dehradun, April 6
Former Adviser to the Chief Minister and former Chairman of Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) Yogender Prasad was today produced in the District Court in connection with the misappropriation of crores of rupees in the Maneri Bhali project. The court has asked him to appear on April 18 again.

Prasad was earlier given bail by the Nainital High Court last month. The Vigilance Department, sources said, had written to the administration to file a petition in the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court. The government had given a total of seven corruption cases against Prasad to the Vigilance to probe. Out of them, in three cases he has been proved guilty by the Vigilance for misappropriation of crores of rupees.

Last month he had been absconding and the department had conducted several raids in the city and in other states, but in vain. However, later he himself had surrendered before the court.

Dehradun, April 6
The Department of Commissioner Tax has achieved the target of 106.80 per cent, with collections of Rs 3,356.20 crore for the financial year 2010-2011.

The departments comprising commercial tax, luxury tax, stamp and registration tax and entertainment tax posted a total collection of Rs 3,356.20 crore, which indicates an increase of 26.55 per cent as compared to last year.

Secretary, Finance, Radha Raturi, yesterday said among the departments, the Commercial Tax Department had posted the highest collection.

Speaking to mediapersons Raturi said, “Even the collections from luxury tax have shown an increase of 38.24 per cent; collections from entertainment tax have also witnessed an increase of 89.76 per cent this year”.

She said the performance of the state was exceptional as compared to other states. “We have performed better than our neighbours Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Even our collections are better than the national average, which stands at 27 per cent (increase), while it is 29.65 per cent for Uttarakhand,” she added.

The secretary said the amendments in taxes and increasing the tax net helped in achieving the target.