Pitthoragarh, April 9
Congress workers in this part of the Kumaon region were in a jubilant mood as the party won all the three council seats in the local bodies bypoll of Tanakpur, Pitthoragarh and Dharchula declared here today. The Congress candidates defeated their nearest BJP rivals.

In the bypoll held in Chandrabhaga ward of the Pitthoragarh Nagar Palika Parishad, Congress-supported candidate Anita Joshi won by 76 votes.

“Anita polled 481 votes, while her nearest rival BJP-supported candidate Bhawana Sharma got 405 votes,” said the Election Officer, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Pitthoragarh.

In the results of the by-elections from Dak Bangla ward of the town area committee, Dharchula, Congress-supported candidate Vimla Devi defeated BJP-supported candidate Prema Devi by 14 votes. “Vimla got 161 votes, while Prema got 147 votes,” said Dharchula SDM Abhisek Tripathi.

The by-election in ward No. 5 of the Nagar Palika Parishad Tanakpur has also gone in favour of the Congress candidate. In the elections held on April 6, Haji Mukim supported by the Congress has been declared winner, as he pulled 308 votes, while his nearest rival Girish Kharkwal could poll only 291 votes.

The overwhelmed Congress workers took to streets in all these places and distributed sweets among the workers. “This is the indication of the forthcoming Assembly elections and also the sign of how people are fed up with the BJP misrule in the state,” said Congress president, Pitthoragarh district, Mahendra Lunthi.

Nainital, April 9
Friday turned out to be a black day for the farmers of Bigrabagh village in Khatima area of Udham Singh Nagar district.A fire engulfed the standing crop of wheat spread over 150 acres. It was with great difficulty that the personnel of the Fire Department along with the farmers were able to bring the fire under control. Crops of at least 125 farmers have been affected by the fire.

According to the information available, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The fire had started from a field in Bigrabagh village and had rapidly spread to the boundary of the adjoining Gauhar Patiya village covering an area of almost 1.5 km.

Although two tenders of the fire brigade had reached the spot, the fire could not be controlled on account of fast blowing winds.

The farmers managed to cut out a fire line with the help of their tractors and other farm implements that helped in bringing the fire under control.

In a similar incident, the standing crop of wheat spread in two acres at Bhajanpura village in Banbasa area was also destroyed in a fire. The cause of the fire is said to be sparking in the electric wires.

In yet another incident of fire, forest cover spread over two hectares in Aamiya area of Bhimtal in Nainital district was destroyed.

Dehradun, April 9
Lakshman Chowk MLA Dinesh Agarwal, along with Congress party leaders and workers, sat on a dharna at the Gandhi Park here today. They were protesting against the failure of the police to take any strong action into last Saturday’s lathicharge on cricket fans.

He demanded that the scope of the probe be increased and senior police officers, who were also involved in this case, were taken to task too. The Congressmen entered the Gandhi Park shouting slogans against the state government for not taking the matter seriously.

Agarwal said though Station House Officer of the Kotwali police station Kailash Panwar had been sent to the Police Lines for one-month training in the aftermath of the report, no mention had been made of the senior police officers.

Former minister Hira Singh Bisht was also present at the protest. He said if the Uttarakhand police had registered a case against 5,000 people, it must be revoked. Mahanagar president Harish Virmani, Lalchand Sharma, Ashok Verma, Kamlesh Raman and others.

Dehradun, April 9
The state police will be able to focus on modernisation and enhancement of infrastructure with an increase in the budget for 2011-2012.

Several new police stations, police chowkis and residential complexes will come up soon. While projects underway will get completed, work on some new projects, too, will start.

According to the police headquarters, under the 13th Finance Commission, the Centre has released Rs 21 crore for the state police for 2011-12. The total budget for four years is pegged at Rs 70 crore, including Rs 50 crore for building police stations and chowkis and Rs 20 crore for training purposes.

The state government has also allocated Rs 10 crore for building police stations and chowkis for 2011-12. A sum of Rs 5 crore has been allocated for the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) and Rs 3 crore sanctioned for residential and non-residential buildings of the police by the state.

The state police has also got Rs 3.5 crore for modernisation, equipment and mobility and Rs 4 crore for vehicles. A senior police officer said, “We have got better funds this year and this will boost the ongoing and new projects of the department”.

Eight police stations and 19 police chowkis will come up in the state with the budget. Besides, previous 19 pending works will, too, get completed. “This will help us in a big way to maintain law and order situation and in better policing,” said the officer.

The police has Rs 700 crore annual budget, out of which 75 per cent is given by the Centre and 25 per cent is borne by the state. The major part of the amount goes into the salary of the police.

Dehradun, April 9
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank inaugurated the office of Uttarakhand Safai Karmachari Ayog at Indira Nagar Colony, Niranjanpur, here today.

The Chief Minister said on the occasion that the state government was committed towards the welfare of the Scheduled Castes (SCs). He added that the state government had launched many welfare schemes for the welfare of the SCs. He said the Ayog had been established so that the grievances of safai karmacharis could be redressed. He added that the contribution from each and every section of the society was needed for the development of the state.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harbans Kapoor, former Chief Minister Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), Mayor Vinod Chamoli, Chairman of the Ayog Bhagwat Prasad Makwana, senior BJP leaders Ashok Gehlot and Vinay Goyal were also present on the occasion. 

Dehradun, April 9
Shetra Prachark of RSS (Western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) Shiv Prakash said the RSS was extending full support to the anti-corruption campaign launched by social activist Anna Hazare.

“Any campaign by social activists that is in the interest of the nation is supported by the RSS. We have done it in the past and we are with Anna Hazare and will like to push the campaign further after the Lok Pal Bill is passed,” he said.

Speaking with The Tribune, Shiv Prakash said, “While the RSS is a non-political outfit and will not like to comment on the legal aspects of the Lokpal Bill or the response of the BJP, the brief of the RSS is to simply ensure a strong value system, ‘sanskar’ in the society, the ‘niti’ is the domain of the BJP and we have over stepped our brief,” he said.

On being questioned about the role of the RSS and its affiliate party Abhinav Bharat and whether the association of some of the members had tarnished the image of the RSS, he said, “We have made it clear at the outset that the Malegaon blast accused Colonel Srikant has no links with the RSS. The cases related to the blasts are still being investigated and we will have to wait for the final verdict,” he said.

On being asked how far had the state under the BJP Government managed to achieve theses goals, he said, “I am yet to take a stock of the situation and at this juncture I cannot comment on the state of affairs in he state.” He also denied that the RSS had already begun an exercise of connecting with people in Uttarakhand, which would be helpful in preparing a political ground for the BJP for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Dehradun, April 9
A national seminar was organised by the Uttaranchal College of Technology and Bi-Medical Science at the Survey of India Auditorium here today. The topic for the day was Body Implanted Microsystem Technology.It was inaugurated by Dr CS Mehta, Vice-Chancellor of the college, by lighting the lamp.Specialists in physiotherapy, IT Biotechonology, MLT and microbiology from various parts of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana participated in the seminar.

Dr AGK Sinha presented his views about physiotherapy and explained the use of techniques like roboticks in physiotherapy. Dr Aruna Bhatia from Punjabi University, Patiala, discussed about the immune response. Dr Geeta Shukla explained about microbiology and Dr Mayank Aggarwal, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, talked about the use of IT and nano technology. He said every area was incomplete without IT sector.

The college also released its annual magazine comprising papers presented by various visitors. —TNS