Haridwar, April 7
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today went to the Ranipur Assembly segment of Haridwar to hear and redress public grievances.Reiterating Vision 2020, the CM said the BJP-led state government was serious about solving the problems of the public.

Accompanying the CM were State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik, Mela Authority vice-chairperson Ashok Tripathi, District Magistrate R Meenakshi Sundram, and other departmental officers.

Taking up the demands of Shivalik Nagar residents, the CM assured them that within two months, the area would be accorded the status of a gram panchayat. He told them of the decision to this effect taken by him a few months back.

Local villagers of Aurangabad complained to the CM that about 86 bighas of land had been bought illegally for Yoga guru Swami Ramdev’s world famous Yog Gram, near SIDCUL. On this, the CM directed the District Magistrate, Haridwar, to submit a report.

Residents of Vishnu Lok Colony, Sitapur, Ranipur, also put forth their problems, which were either solved on the spot or referred to officials of the department concerned for looking into these matters on a priority basis.

On the dais were office-bearers of BJP, Garhwal division, Pankaj Sehgal, Swami Yatishwaranand, Om Prakash Jamdagni, Naresh Sharma, Manoj Garg, Sanjana Sharma, and other city unit members.

The CM also gave away cash awards of Rs 501 each to women, who gave the right answers related to the Gauri Devi Kanya Dhan scheme being run by the BJP government since it came to power in 2007.

Nainital, April 7
The relocation of residents of Chukam, a small village on the border of Nainital and Almora districts, has snowballed into a major contentious issue. The residents of the village have been demanding relocation and freedom from the misery that surrounds them during the monsoons every year. Only last year, 15 houses were destroyed by the gushing waters of the Kosi river, which also washed away a large tract of the fertile land.

Coupled with this, is the menace of wild boars and other animals from the Simian family that have been destroying their produce.

The people have taken to agitation alleging that the various promises made to them by the government have turned out to be mirages over the years.

The administration, on the other hand, has a different tale to relate.

Talking to The Tribune, Subdivisional Magistrate AK Nautiyal said, “We are trying to find an appropriate place to relocate them, but the problem is that the villagers want to be relocated en-block, and such a huge tract of land is not available at the moment. We have written to the two forest divisions that exist in the area, apart from the Corbett National Park. Even they have not been able to come up with a solution till now”.

The administration says that it is willing to provide the land, which the villages have on paper, at an alternate site on the Patkot road. But the villagers are adamant on having an equivalent of government land, which is at present available to them, though this government land remains submerged during the monsoons.

Chukam has remained among the most underdeveloped villages of the state. In the absence of a bridge linking it to the main road, the village remains cut off from the rest of the world as an island during the monsoons. The plight of the residents can be gauged from the fact that Lok Sabha member from Pauri Satpal Maharaj was the first Parliamentarian to visit them after more than 60 years of Independence. Maharaj visited the place when the rain waters had subsided last year.

State Cabinet Minister Bansidhar Bhagat went on to take the cue from him. Both the leaders made tall announcements, which people say are yet to see the light of the day.

In fact, Nautiyal and his team had scripted a success story of sorts in Kumaon’s hour of distress, when the region was witnessing rain-related disaster last year. Setting an example for its counterparts across the state, the Ramnagar administration had managed to provide all the essentials to this village that had been cut off from all sides.

Located at a distance of about 8 km from Mohaan, the village, with its 92 families comprising 500 persons, was completely at the mercy of nature.

A team of revenue officials, led by the SDM, had managed to reach the village via Kudkhet after crossing a hanging bridge on the Kosi river. The team took clothes, food packets, cooking oil, wheat, rice, salt, milk packets and sugar for the residents.

The administration was, otherwise, making arrangements for taking essentials to the village by a helicopter. Every year people have to desert their houses and climb atop hills to save themselves from the wrath of nature during the monsoons.

Pitthoragarh, April 7
Keeping in view the flow of Nepali citizens from India, bound for home on the occasion of Vishuvat Sankranti through the five bridges on the Indo-Nepal border, the Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), manning the border, has intensified vigilance on these bridges, and on the Indo-Nepal border along this district, to thwart any smuggling activities .

“The Nepali citizens, every year, try to reach their homes on the occasion of Vishuwat Sankrati through the five bridges, as they lead to nine districts of western Nepal. Since, Vishuwat Sankrati is celebrated as the beginning of new year in Nepal, the Nepalese are crossing the bridges in large numbers daily at Dharchula, Jhulaghat, Baluakote, Jauljibi and Garbyang,” said BS Tolia, commandant of the 11th Battalion of the SSB.

“We are mainly keeping an eye on the smuggling of detonators and other explosives availed from Indian contractors to Nepal, as a large number of Nepalese work with Indian contractors during their stay here,” said Tolia.

The SSB commandant said on an average day, about 1,000 Nepali citizens transmigrated from all five bridges on the Indo-Nepal border in this district, but these days their numbers had gone up to more than 3,000 per day, mostly from the Indian side. “In search of jobs, Nepali citizens cross over to the Indian territory from November onwards. During that time, we keep an eye on smuggling of foreign goods and drugs, like charas and ganja; but presently, we are keeping a vigil on the smuggling of animal parts, besides detonators,” said the SSB commandant.

“We have not only increased the SSB jawans on these bridges, but have also deployed dogs in the work,” he added.

Dehradun, April 7
Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli yesterday said the administration was not taking interest in the projects that had been proposed by the Municipal Corporation (MC) keeping in view the upcoming rainy season.

The Mayor said, “The administration failed to complete the projects that were proposed last year; if they fail to complete the pending projects now, how will they cope with the coming rainy season?”

“The administration has just passed five projects worth Rs 14 lakh, out of Rs 6 crore related to disaster management. How can we expect that they are ready to face any natural disaster in the future?” he asked.

The projects passed included the sanitation work at Loharwala, removal of debris at Chor Khala, Shanti Vihar, recarpeting of roads at Rishi Nagar and Cement Road to Raipur Road, Chungi, respectively, the most important being retaining of the wall at Vishwakarma Colony.

Last year, the city faced a lot of problems due to the incessant rains, as many parts of the city got flooded. To avoid such circumstances in future, the Mayor had proposed various works, but no heed was paid to them.

Dehradun, April 7
After the government accepted the demands of the Revenue Police, Lekhpals in the state too have upped the ante and launched an indefinite stir.

The Uttarakhand Lekhpal Sangh is demanding cadre be reorganised, pay scale increased from Rs 3,050 to Rs 4,500, grant of motor cycle allowance during official trips, stationary allowance and also filling of vacant posts for Lekhpal.

 Hira Singh Bisht, District President, Uttaralhand Lekhpal Sangh, said they had launched an indefinite stir from today. He charged the government for adopting dual policies. 

Pitthoragarh, April 7
To ease the drinking water problem of his home town, Uttarakhand Drinking Water Minister Prakash Pant yesterday inspected the installation process of new lifting pumps for Pitthoragarh town in the Ghat area of the district.

“After the installation of the new pumps, the water supply to the town will increase by one million litre daily, which will be sufficient for the people of the town,” said Pant on the occasion.

According to Jal Sansthan officials, the pumps will be installed by the end of the month, and will be lifting water from next month.

“We are installing eight new pumps under the scheme initiated in 1979, as all the lifting pumps have gone out of date and are unable to lift water to their capacity, creating a severe shortage of drinking water for the town,” said the minister.

The minister also assured the people of the town that a new scheme parallel to the existing one would soon be commissioned at the place, with a capacity of 11 million litres per day. “Besides the parallel scheme, a mega drinking-water scheme of 48 MLD will also be started for the town, keeping the population of 2,041 of the town in mind,” said the minister.

Nainital, April 7
A woman from the Jaspur area of Udham Singh Nagar torched herself, along with her daughter, on Tuesday, following a tiff with her husband who had returned home in an inebriated state. The day happened to be the fourth birthday of their daughter.

According to information, Anita Devi had been married to Rajkumar Prajapati of Kasimpurgarhi village that falls in the Afzalgarh area for the past five years. On Tuesday, the husband returned home allegedly in a drunken state just when four-year-old Chandni was about to cut her birthday cake. This was followed by a tiff between the couple following which Anita doused herself and her daughter with kerosene and torched the two.

The villagers rushed the two to a private hospital in Kashipur where 25-year-old Anita succumbed to her injuries, while the daughter is struggling for survival.

It is learnt that the Prajapati family went ahead with the cremation of the deceased on Wednesday without informing her family. Anita’s family members, who reside at Garhinegi village, turned up and created a scene.

Haridwar, April 7
Terming nationalism as a feeling of the highest level which surpasses all other feelings and sentiments, renowned yoga guru Swami Ramdev has called for a stronger, developed and corruption-free India which will bring back the days of India’s glory.The yoga guru, who also is actively undertaking the fight against corruption under the Bharat Swabhiman Trust, is in Patanjali Haridwar these days attending the Ram Katha being narrated by renowned religious guru Morari Bapu.

Terming yoga as a one-point solution of problems of the nation, society and human beings, the yoga guru emphasised that via practising yoga one assumes powers which in ordinary circumstances one doesn’t possess.

Stating that as Lord Rama, Sri Krishna, Bhagwan Mahavir, Guru Nanak Dev and Maharshi Dayanand and other such personalities took birth in India, Indians must feel blessed to be born in such a country.

Morari Bapu also termed Hanuman Chalisa as pious and that gave spiritual powers, terming Lord Hanuman as the ultimate yogi.

The Ram Katha is being attended by devotees in large numbers with the Patanjali atmosphere dipping in Lord Rama’s bhajans and chants.

Mussoorie, April 7
State Agriculture and Livestock Minister Trivendar Rawat, speaking here yesterday at the annual meeting of the Natural Herbs and Formulations (NHF) Company, said, “The state government is committed to provide more incentives to herbal manufactures, so that they are able to earn necessary foreign revenue and generate employment in the state. This was evident from the annual report of the NHF Company, which had earned more than Rs 7 crore of revenue in the current year”.

Rawat said the state had earned a reputation of becoming the biggest pharma city under the new industrial policy. The herbal industry was being given incentives according to the industrial policy and the government was also developing state herbal gardens with the help of van panchayats and self-help groups in the villages, so that companies did not face paucity of raw material like rare herbs.

He said a mega Patanjali Food Park was being developed, under which the government had already signed a memorandum of understanding for 26 herbs. The minister was also pleased to announce that the state had become the first state to introduce minimum support price for herbs to encourage people towards herb collection, especially in the hills. More than 13,000 van panchayats would be involved under this project, under which the farmers would be given full financial support.

Earlier, Chairman of the company SS Pundir welcomed the chief guest and achievement awards for the year were distributed to participants.

Pundir, speaking to mediapersons, said his company in the past nine years had experienced tremendous growth in the field of manufacturing herbal medicines and expanded their business in the state manifold.

However, he expressed that, too, much red tape and unnecessary documentations were hindering the growth of natural herbs manufacturing in the state and pleaded with the minister to ease up the procedures required for functioning of various herbal units in the state.

The Agriculture Minister promised to look into the matter and would try to remove the bottlenecks at the earliest. Pundir further said nature had bestowed extraordinary powers to plants and herbs to cure human and veterinary diseases.

He said, “The NHF has adopted several villages and were carrying out various philanthropic activities, while doing their core work of research and formulations”.