Nainital, April 20
The yatris undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar yatra this year will have to travel two days extra as compared to the previous years. This year’s yatra will be 36 km long and hence two days extra will be required to cover this distance.

Officials at the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), the nodal organisation facilitating the yatra, at the behest of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) says that this year, the yatris will be going to Kailash Mansarovar by the traditional route that has been undertaken by the pilgrims over the centuries until the shorter route had been developed some years ago.

The Managing Director of the KMVN, Chandresh Kumar, said that with the extensive damage caused by the rains last year in and around Mangti, this year the yatris would be traversing through Sirkha and Panju.

This year’s pilgrimage would be for 29 days and would commence from June 1. The yatris would assemble in Delhi a couple of days earlier for their medical examination.

Kumar has further stated that the KMVN would be providing huts with insulation facility to the yatris this year during their difficult sojourn in the mountainous terrain and inclement weather. He said the KMVN would do its best to ensure that the yatris faced minimum problems during the yatra.

The list of the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatris has already been prepared following their selection by the lottery system. According to sources, 16 batches of yatris comprising 60 persons each will undertake this year’s yatra. There were 1,778 applicants and 45 persons

have been kept in the waiting list. The first batch of the yatris is expected to reach Almora on June 1. The yatra is held under the supervision of the Ministry of External Affairs while the KMVN is the executing agency for the exercise.

Kumar claimed that the Adi Kailash Yatra being conducted by the KMVN, parallel to the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, was drawing a good response.

Pilgrims unable to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar yatra on account of their names not figuring in the draw are more than enthusiastic to undertake the Adi Kailash Yatra right up to the Om Parvat.

Dehradun, April 20
The case of the alleged land grab and fraudulent land transfer against Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat took an interesting turn when on the orders of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun, the police registered a case of forgery and threat against two persons at the Sahaspur police station here.

The case against Virender Singh Kandari and Bhimsen Verma was registered on a complaint filed by Mehmood Hasan in the court. Kandari was a personal assistant to Rawat during his tenure as the Uttarakhand Revenue Minister in the previous Congress Government headed by ND Tiwari.

The complainant, Mehmood Hasan, alleged that 110 bighas of agricultural land in Shankarpur village in Dehradun district, which belongs to Sushila Devi of New Delhi, was fraudulently bought through an alleged fake power of attorney by Rawat in the name of his wife, Deepti Rawat, and Luxmi Ranain in 2004.

Hasan alleged that he was a caretaker of the land of Sushila Devi who died in 1974, but Rawat, on the basis of a fraudulent power of attorney, usurped the land. He further said the land belonged to Sushila Devi, who went to live in Delhi in 1958, and he continued to be its caretaker. Later, in 1974, Sushila Devi passed away and the land became benami.

He alleged that in 2002, Kandari, in connivance with Bhimsen Verma of Delhi, made a fake power of attorney where mother of Bhimsen Verma, namely Savitri Verma, was shown as Sushila Verma.

In 2004, Kandari sold the land to Deepti Rawat, wife of Harak Singh Rawat, and Luxmi Rana. A probe was ordered by the administration, but since the matter involved a senior politician, nothing happened. Hasan moved the court and the Chief Judicial Magistrate ordered the registration of a case against two persons.

Meanwhile, Rawat today alleged that the Uttarakhand BJP Government was trying to malign his image by falsely implicating his name in a land issue.

He categorically said there was no case of land usurping against him or his wife. “I have already moved a privilege motion against the government in the state Assembly,” he said, adding the his wife had even gone to Lokayukta on the matter. He said the government had so far failed to reply to the notices.

Rawat said if any of the charges against him were proved right, he was ready to quit politics.

Dehradun, April 20
Just a day before when a high-level delegation comprising Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, Tourism Ministers from 10 states and other higher officials from the Tourism sector from all over the country will be reaching Rishikesh to hold a meeting on Thursday, officials of the Tourism Department of the state have been caught in an unsavoury situation. Around 2,000 employees of the department have threatened the authorities with an indefinite strike from Wednesday midnight as per the notice given by them a fortnight ago, if their demands remained unfulfilled.

Anxious to hold a good show at the tourist guest house at Rishikesh and save the prestige of the state, the officials of the department are holding a series of meetings with the representatives of the employees’ associations, but the situation continued to remain grim. The Principle Secretary, Tourism, Rakesh Sharma, has agreed to concede two of the main demands of the employees, the cancellation of 10 high-level appointments made eight months ago and the regular service for 375 employees of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), and he is ready to give it in writing. But, the employees’ associations are not ready to be taken in this time around.

General Manager, GMVN, UC Kabadwal said they would hold another round of meetings with the representatives of the employees at Rishikesh. These meeting would be presided over by Sharma.

But, the president of the Joint Association of the GMVN and the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, Purushottam Negi, refused to budge, saying, “We had given an ultimatum regarding our demands on April 3, but it fell on deaf ears. It is only now, when the matter has reached the boiling point and the prestige of the state is at stake, they have finally woken up but only to serve their own purpose. Earlier too, in January, Sharma gave us hollow assurances in writing. This ineffective tool will not help this time.”

The cat-and-mouse game between the employees and the officials of the Tourism Department has been going on for many years. The employees’ associations try to twist the arms of the officials at important and sensitive junctures, like this time, when the tourism season is about to begin but the officials too manage to hoodwink them by giving them trivial benefits each time.

The employees have been demanding the cancellation of 10 high-level appointments made eight months ago for the alleged charges of irregularities in the selection of the candidates, regular service for 375 employees who were employed before 1995, 111 of total 182 employees of 2001 batch to be promoted on a seniority basis and the rest to be exempted from the must roll system.

Pithoragarh, April 20
It is the impact of a month-long agitation by women against opening of liquor shops in their respective areas that the administration has been unable to find a suitable place to house the liquor shop between Tanakpur and Bastia in Champawat district.

After a fierce agitation by the women against the opening of a country-made English liquor shop at Bastia, it was shifted to Sukhidhank village. But now the women of Sukhidhank are up in arms against the opening of the liquor shop in their area as well.

“The shop will again be shifted to some third place as the women who were agitating have been given an assurance in this regard,” said Shiv Charan Dwivedi , Subdivisional Magistrate of Tanakpur, who persuaded the agitating women to break their three-day old indefinite fast against the opening of the liquor shop.

The administration now intends to open the liquor shop at a place named Sinyari, but women of the area have already threatened to launch an agitation against the opening of the liquor shop in their area.

“The people of this area are only dependent on the employment generated from the national rural employment guarantee scheme, under which they get Rs 120 as daily wage. With a liquor shop in the vicinity, men folk will be encouraged to spend more on drinking instead of taking care of their families and children. We have no option but to oppose it,” said Kamla Devi, president of the Mahila Mangal Dal of the village.

Meanwhile, the residents of Sinyari village have decided that if anyone gives the space to open the liquor shop, the people will boycott him socially. “We have sent a memorandum to the Champawat district magistrate via the Tanakpur SDM, requesting him not to let open the liquor shop at Sinyari as it will badly affect the poor people of the area,” said Sheesh Ram, gram pradhan of nearby Silar village, who is also active in the anti-liquor agitation.

The women of Sukhidhank and Bastia villages have given an ultimatum that if the liquor shop will not be shifted from their areas by April 20, they will block the National Highway number 125 which links the border areas of the Pithoragarh with the rest of the country. “We are fighting for our basic needs for the past 10 years, but the government instead of doing anything for us, has given us a liquor shop,” said Harish Bohra, the gram pradhan of Bastia village in Tanakpur. 

Dehradun, April 20
TheUttarakhand Andolankari Sanyukt Manch staged a dharna demanding the identification of statehood activists and the facilities of transport, medical care, education and pension to those who got injured or remained jailed for seven days during the struggle for statehood. The manch has also demanded that these activists be designated as Rajya Nirman Sainani.

The manch has said it would intensify its protest if its demands were not fulfilled in time. Those who participated in the dharna included president of the manch Nanda Vallabh Pandey and convener Manoj Dhyani.

Mussoorie, April 20
The founder of the Prajatantrik Bahujan Shakti Dal (PBSD) Man Singh Bagga has said that his party will field ‘winnable’ candidates in the forthcoming Assembly elections scheduled to be held in February 2012 in the state. He was addressing mediapersons here today.

He further said that people from all castes and creeds would be brought into the fold of the party, adding that they would fight for the cause of the poor and the weak, who had been marginalised in the last decade or so. He also said that his party would not indulge in politics of caste and religion, but would take along every individual of society and assist them in improving their social and economic life.

Bagga lamented the fact that the Congress and the BJP have misled the people of state on the development issue and were involved in looting the state. Supporting Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption, he reiterated that his party would side with those forces who were committed to remove corruption from politics.

He further said that his party had completed the task of forming units in five states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. 

Dehradun, April 20
There will be fibre cages to catch leopards in the days to come. An indication to this effect was noticed in the recently released Union Environment and Forest Ministry’s guidelines on the human-leopard conflict management.

Cages continue to play an important role in minimising man-leopard conflicts, particularly in the states like Uttarakhand that witness the worst manifestations of man-leopard conflict every year. The ministry guidelines strongly back the usage of fibre cages in the operations to rescue leopards due to it being lighter in weight than those made of metal. These fibre cages will be very handy in the hilly forest tracts of Uttarakhand where carrying heavy iron cages has always been a tough task.

Earlier, the Uttarakhand forest authorities had even come up with modifications in the traditional cages to shed their weight and turning these to be transportation friendly. These improved steel cages were easily foldable and had a total weight of around 98 kg and were much better than the traditional cages. These could easily be carried by two persons on shoulders or attached to a jeep for ferrying. The transportation has been a big problem with the earlier 10-foot long cages.

Wildlife conservationist AK Singh said the fibre cages would certainly be of immense benefit and save the forest staff the hassles of transportation. “It will certainly be more user friendly and need based,” he added.

It has been noticed that during rescue operations leopards generally bang their faces against the iron rods of the traditional cages, leading to injuries to them. 

Mussoorie, April 20
A group of film-makers from Lucknow, nowadays in Mussoorie for shooting an experimental digital video film titled “Kohasa, The Killer ”, said that availability of better infrastructure and a single-window system provided by the Uttarakhand Government could attract more film-makers to the state.

Avneet Singh, director, and Deepak Chaurasia, producer of the film, produced under the banner of Sairam Productions, said the creative fraternity around the country was enchanted by the valleys and mountains of the state and were eager to shoot here, but due to lack of a single-window clearance system and unavailability of quality cinematic equipment like cameras, lights and movable cranes, film-makers were compelled to look for other locales.

The director-producer duo said that the major part of the budget was being spent on the transportation of equipment, used for the shooting. With support from the government, more filmmakers would make a beeline for places like Mussoorie, resulting in generation of employment and increase in collection of revenue. Avneet Seth, speaking about the film, said that it was a murder mystery in three parts that is being attempted for the first time in the history of digital video films. The star cast of the film is from the theatre groups based in Lucknow. The lead roles in the film were played by Avneet Vishaal and Chandra Rani Mukherjee. 

Dehradun, April 20
The BJP has taken a strong exception to the suggestion made by the interlocutors to give additional powers to Jammu and Kashmir to assert its independent character.

Talking to mediapersons in Dehradun, Uttarakhand Rajya Sabha MP and BJP national spokesman Tarun Vijay said it was unfortunate that interlocutors, instead of suggesting steps for greater integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the country, were making suggestions that are in line with the demands of separatists.

Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay said the BJP had always stood for establishing closer links between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country. He also accused the Congress and the National Conference of fuelling the separatist movement in the state.

He said the BJP was of the firm view that Article 370 must be abrogated in Jammu and Kashmir and a conducive atmosphere be created in the state to ensure the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits to the state. “We also demand implementation of the unanimous resolution passed by Parliament to take the areas of Kashmir under illegal occupation of Pakistan,” Tarun Vijay pointed out.